Horse racing Archives

January 19, 2023

Conor Grant to join Racecourse Media Group as chairman

Former Flutter UK and Ireland CEO Conor Grant has been appointed as the incoming chairman of Racecourse Media Group (RMG).

Grant will initially join as a non-executive director, beginning 1 April 2023, and will succeed chairman Roger Lewis on 1 October 2023. Lewis first joined the RMG board in 2012 and was appointed as chairman in 2019.

Grant has 24 years of experience in the industry, and was most recently chief executive for Flutter UK and Ireland. Before this, he was the chief operating officer of Sky Betting and Gaming.

“I am delighted to be joining Racecourse Media Group at such an exciting time for the business and the broader racing industry,” said Grant. “RMG has delivered outstanding results for its shareholders in recent years and I would like to pay tribute to Roger who has done a fantastic job, along with CEO Martin Stevenson, in growing and developing the business.

“I look forward to working with the RMG team and continuing to deliver for all of our racecourses.”

Outg..

January 11, 2023

South Carolina amendment would let legislature legalise betting and igaming

A South Carolina Representative has put forward a bill that would amend the state constitution, allowing the legislature to legalise varying forms of gambling – including sports betting.

The passage of the amendment would not legalise forms of gambling itself. Instead, it would permit the South Carolina legislature to do so.

Titled the South Carolina House Joint Resolution 3095, the bill was introduced in the state House yesterday (10 January) and referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. It is sponsored by Representative Todd Rutherford.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

January 4, 2023

Tab NZ misses profit budget again in November

Tab NZ again fell short of its monthly profit budget in November despite surpassing its gross betting revenue (GBR) target for the month.

Tab NZ, New Zealand’s sports betting monopoly, said while major events such as football’s 2022 Fifa World Cup, horse racing’s Melbourne Cup and the NZ Trotting Cup helped it to surpass turnover and GBR levels, gross betting margin and profit missed budget.

Retail traffic continued to hold strong following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and the overall field size across all three codes was up on the year-to-date average. Other factors such as continued competitive pressure from unregulated offshore operators, reduced betting margin and lower average bet size in key customer segments impacted the figures.

Tab NZ had already warned in early December that due to it missing budgets a number of times in recent months, it would have to reduce distributions to racing codes across New Zealand by 9% for the 2022-23 financial year ending 31 July 2023.
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November 30, 2022

CDI to develop DraftKings horse racing offering

Race track and gaming business Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has entered into a multi-year agreement with DraftKings to develop DK Horse, a pari-mutuel wagering horse racing product for the sports betting operator.

CDI’s B2B horse racing subsidiary TwinSpires will develop the white-label solution. This will involve providing the company’s advanced deposit wagering technology to DraftKings.

While TwinSpires initially started life as CDI’s B2C online betting and casino platform, the business pivoted to being a B2B provider after facing intense market competition in 2021.

Under the terms of the deal, CDI will also provide the pari-mutuel wagering rights to content that the business owns or controls, such as the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. CDI will also provide additional horse racing content on the operator’s behalf.

“We are excited to collaborate with Churchill Downs Incorporated, not only to give our existing customers an opportunity to engage with pari-mutuel horse wa..

November 30, 2022

Metric partners Racebook HQ for trading services

Sports betting supplier Metric Gaming has partnered with Racebook HQ to offer managed trading services to horse racing operators.

Through the partnership, Racebook HQ will use automated decision makers to offer pricing “on products that are notoriously difficult to trade” across horse racing, greyhound racing and trotting.

“We are extremely excited to announce this partnership and could not have found a better partner in Metric Gaming,” Racebook HQ chief executive Sam Ford said. “Technology is at the core of what we do at Racebook HQ, and Metric Gaming clearly hold the same aspirations to create premium products and services for the global betting and gaming industry.”

Metric Gaming and Racebook HQ: similar outlook

Metric Gaming CEO Keith Hayes said that Metric and Racebook – which is backed by professional racing bettor Zeljko Ranogajec – shared a similar outlook on the global betting landscape.

“RBHQ is the dominant racing provider globally and from our very first conversations,..

November 23, 2022

Swedish monopolies carving out their place in the market

In the second part of Daniel O’Boyle’s deep dive into the changing role of Sweden’s gambling monopolies, ATG CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth and Svenska Spel CEO Patrik Hofbauer discuss how their businesses have evolved since re-regulation.

When the new Gambling Act came into force in 2019, Svenska Spel and AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) face licensed competition online for the first time. They underwent many changes themselves.

2019: a new era for Swedish gambling regulation

For Svenska Spel the changes were mostly aimed at preventing the business from using its former monopoly status to gain an unfair leg-up in online betting and gaming.

Sweden launched its regulated gambling market in January 2019

This necessitated major changes, Hofbauer recalls.

“The biggest change was to adjust the whole organisation and operations to be in line with the re-regulated gambling legislation. Today Svenska Spel operates as a group with three separate business areas.

“And an important factor in that was c..

November 21, 2022

BetMakers pens distribution deal with Racing Victoria’s media business

Betting technology and data business BetMakers has entered into a digital distribution agreement with Racing Victoria’s media business, the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing IMB (VTRIMB).

As part of the deal, BetMakers will embed a feed featuring Victoria horse races into its digital platform. This will then be distributed to betting companies across Australia via Betmakers’ streaming services .

“BetMakers is delighted to reach agreement with VTRIMB as a distribution partner for Racing.com’s live horse racing vision,” said BetMakers CEO Todd Buckingham. “Making this top-quality content available to more consumers will drive increased interest and wagering in Victorian horse racing.

“The content will also continue to bridge the product gap for BetMakers’ platform customers and is the first of many exciting updates we will roll out in this space.”

The agreement means BetMakers will provide content to up to 25 new distribution partners in the Australian online betting market.

“BetMakers..

November 7, 2022

Singapore Pools outlines digital plans as revenue beats pre-pandemic total

State-owned gaming monopoly Singapore Pools’ 2021-22 revenue levels rebounded to 20% above the pre-pandemic total, growing to S$10.1bn ($7.2bn/£6.3bn/€7.2bn) from S$8.4bn for the 2018-19 period, the last pre-Covid data set.

According to the operator, growth in sports betting primarily drove the revenue increases. Singapore Pools added five new South American football leagues to its offering, and the resumption of delayed events – notably 2021’s UEFA Euro 2020 – led to a one-time boost in revenue.

Lottery revenue also rebounded past its pre-pandemic level, but horse race betting remained below trend as a result of the continuance of Covid-19 prevention measures in the betting venues.

The money raised via betting duties and taxes amounted to S$2.1bn, which was a 30% increase from the S$1.6bn raised the previous year, but has not yet significantly increased past the pre-pandemic norm.

The surplus paid to the Tote Board was a record S$464m compared to S$456 in 2019-20 and S$455m in 20..

October 24, 2022

ATG warns over impact of “global economic challenges”

Sweden’s former horse racing monopoly ATG said net gaming revenue was broadly level year-on-year during the first three quarters of its 2022 financial year, despite the impact of global economic challenges.

Total revenue for the nine months through to the end of September amounted to SEK3.9bn (£305.9m/€352.6m/$346.9m), a decrease of less than 1% on the same period last year.

ATG said that while the effects of the pandemic had continued to die down during the nine months, the business now faces wider challenges in the impact of the war in Ukraine and also global economic issues due to high inflation and the potential for an impending recession.

Chief financial officer Lotta Nilsson Viitala said it was difficult to estimate how much both of these factors would hit ATG, but admitted that the business would be impacted.

“We see tendencies towards our customers having less money left in the entertainment wallet,” Viitala said. “It is completely natural with the price increases and inte..

October 6, 2022

ATG chief slams bonuses as “embarrassing”

Hasse Lord Skarplöth, CEO of Swedish state-affiliated horse racing operator ATG, has said that bonuses are “embarrassing” and “drive gambling addiction” in a blistering critique of the common industry practice.

Bonuses are the practice of offering free or extra bets to consumers in order to attract or retain players to their platforms; with the method sometimes coming under criticism as an inducement that helps contribute to negative social responsibility outcomes.

Sweden has a stringent bonus regime, only allowing operators to offer one bonus per player at sign-up, worth no more than SEK100. This has been criticised by the Swedish Moderate Party – which have called for the rules to be reformed:

Hasse Lord Skarplöth

“This would make it easier for gaming companies to retain customers in the licensed market and have long-term relationships with the players, both of which increase consumer protection,” said the party.

Much of the industry has also opposed the bonus ban. However, as ..

September 20, 2022

FDJ opens talks over ZEturf Group acquisition

French national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) has entered into exclusive negotiations over the acquisition of online horse racing and sports betting brand ZEturf Group.

Details of the talks or financial terms of the potential deal were not disclosed, but FDJ did state that the purchase would form part of wider plans to expand its presence in France’s online gambling market.

Founded in 2001, ZEturf employs approximately 100 staff and processed almost €800.0m (£701.6m/$802.5m) in wagers, including more than €100.0m in pool bets, in 2021.

According to FDJ, online horse racing betting accounts for more than 50% of ZEturf bets. This makes the business France’s second largest operator in this segment with a market share of around 20%.

In addition to its activities in France, ZEturf operates in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

Should the acquisition proceed to the next stage, the deal would be subject to approval by competition and regulatory authorities

The talks come a..

September 16, 2022

Churchill Downs to acquire Kentucky’s Ellis Park for $79m

Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has agreed a deal to acquire the Ellis Park racetrack and gaming facility in Kentucky for a total consideration of $79.0m (£69.4m/€79.3m).

Under the arrangement, CDI will purchase Ellis Park Racing & Gaming from Enchantment Holdings, an affiliate of Laguna Development Corporation, and take full ownership of the venue.

Located in Henderson, Kentucky, Ellis Park has hosted horse racing for the past 100 years, while the site also features a gaming facility venue with approximately 300 historical racing machines (HRMs).

The acquisition agreement also includes CDI assuming Ellis Park’s opportunity to construct a track extension facility at Owensboro’s Towne Square Mall. The new Owensboro Racing & Gaming site will also house an entertainment venue with 600 HRMs, a simulcast wagering centre and multiple food and beverage offerings.

Over the next year, CDI said it expects the total investment in the Henderson and Daviess counties to be approximately $75.0..

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Tag: Horse racing