Betting Business Bulletin 20th August, 2017

Racecourses take next step with Colossus pool betting tie-up

The 54 British racecourses who have come together to set up their own pool betting operation have taken the next step in their journey with the announcement of the identity of their technology partner.

The project’s steering board claimed the agreement with Colossus Bets would help “transform” pool betting on British racing with customers having access to new exotic bets, cash-out and six and seven-figure minimum guaranteed prize pools.

Betfred’s exclusive licence to offer pool betting on British racing expires next summer and most of Britain’s courses have come together to offer a rival service.

The range of bets being offered, which has yet to be finalised, will be owned by the 54 tracks but delivered using Colossus Bets’ technology.

The bets, the tracks involved said, will be available on course, via a remote betting platform to be offered by the racecourse consortium and through third-party betting operators including Colossus Bets and their existing partner operators.

Project managing director Nigel Roddis said: “Innovation is a key aim as we want to offer customers an improved service and ensure pool betting is at the heart of the bets available on racing. We think that the opportunities provided by this initiative will go a long way towards us achieving that goal.”

Roddis said he was excited by the opportunities offered by access to the ‘Syndicates’ platform provided by Colossus Bets which would allow crowdfunding of tickets into racing pools.

He added: “I’m also convinced pool betting and cash-out opportunities are made for each other. Many of us can point to times when we have been four or five legs in only to have the final leg let us down.

“We will provide customers with an opportunity to decide whether to take that final-leg risk or bank some profits early. It will add to the drama and provide outlets for discussion on social media and more traditional media channels.”

Colossus Bets were launched in 2013, initially concentrating on football.

Chief operating officer David O’Reilly said: “Pool betting on horseracing is a sleeping giant and we look forward to bringing cutting edge features and technology to racing punters, with life-changing prize pools.”

The 54 courses signed up to the project include those under the Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company banners as well as major independents such as Goodwood, Newbury and York.

However Ascot – which announced its own operation Ascotbet in partnership with Betfred in April – and Chester, which will offer pool betting through its existing in-house betting operation, are not part of the racecourse project.

Hills and Arc agree racecourse betting shop deal

The cold war between racing and bookmakers continues to thaw, more evidence of which came last week when it was revealed William Hill are to take over racecourse betting shops formerly run by Ladbrokes at six Arena Racing Company (Arc) tracks.

Racegoers at the courses concerned – Doncaster, Lingfield, Southwell, Windsor, Wolverhampton and Worcester – were left without betting shop facilities from January when the standoff between the Ladbrokes Coral group and Arc over new betting shop channel The Racing Partnership (TRP), in which Arc is the prime mover, escalated.

Arc’s director of operations Mark Spincer said: “We’re really pleased to have been able to work with William Hill to ensure all these betting facilities will be open in the coming weeks.

“As a leading betting operator, and key sponsor partner of Arc, William Hill’s facilities are well placed to meet all customers’ needs and thrive in the years ahead.”

At the time of the launch of British racing’s controversial authorised betting partner policy there were warnings from the bookmakers who refused to sign up that the sport was risking losing sponsorship and other commercial deals with the sector for the long term.

However the betting shop deal is just the latest commercial agreement between Arc and Hills alone.

As well as agreeing to sponsor Doncaster’s biggest race the St Leger, Hills agreed a long-term media rights deal with TRP in December 2016.

Then in May, Arc bought the greyhound tracks at Newcastle and Sunderland from Hills.

The bookmaker’s divisional director for the northern region Steven White said: “The William Hill facilities at Doncaster are already proving popular so we’re excited about extending our presence to the on-course betting facilities at six of Arc’s racecourses.”

Bookmaker praise for BHA non-runners crackdown

The BHA even earned praise from a betting operator last week as British racing’s governing body introduced a package of proposals to tackle the issue of excessive non-runners.

The ten recommendations have been designed to address the three main causes of non-runners after declaration time – self certificates, vets’ certificates and going alterations – and include publishing tables of trainer non-runner rates and potentially preventing repeat offenders from using self-certificates for 12 months.

Simon Clare of Ladbrokes Coral said the BHA’s announcement would be “enthusiastically welcomed by betting operators and punters alike”.

He added: “It is a welcome signal of intent by the BHA but it is now vital that it implements and applies these initiatives with vigour and resolve over the months and years to come if they are to have the desired and very necessary intended impact.”

Clare said tackling the frequency of non-runners was essential if racing wanted to compete with other betting products.

He added: “First and foremost punters hate placing bets that don’t then run, and it goes without saying that refunding bets is no good for bookies or the sport either but those non-runners then impact negatively on the experience of other punters causing unpopular Rule 4 deductions, which whilst fair and logical still leave a winning punter disappointed and frustrated that their expected winnings have been reduced.

“Non-runners also regularly cause unpopular changes in the each-way terms of bets already placed, which again leaves a bad taste in the mouths of punters.

“What business would be happy to deliver such major and costly customer dissatisfaction so frequently? Only a business that is happy to decline in popularity and that is why today’s BHA announcement of initiatives to clamp down on non-runners should be applauded and supported across the board.”