Gap between Totes and Betting Shops Widening
Tote chairman Peter Jones said this week that the performance gap between racecourses and high street betting shops has widened, with controversial virtual roulette machines fueling growth in shops. Privatization of the Tote, set up 75 years ago to run Britain's pool betting monopoly, will be completed early next year. Jones said the Tote's trading at its racecourse outlets had reflected a "slight fall in racecourse attendance" in the 24 weeks to Sept. 15. He blamed poor weather and Euro 2004. Betting shops "continued to prosper" following acquisitions and the installation of 1,100 fixed odds betting terminal machines.
NSW TAB System Crashes during Melbourne Cup
Twice during high betting times for the Melbourne Cup, the New South Wales TAB was unable to take bets from thousands of punters after its betting portal crashed. Just 40 minutes before the "race that stops the nation" started, the NSW TAB Web site was unable to log in users and unable to process bets. Users were shown the purple homepage with the words "system temporarily unavailable." The site became accessible again minutes before the race started. TAB spokesman Peter Fletcher said the initial problem with the Web site was due to the betting load. "We are only speculating at the moment, but we expect the issues to be load-related," Fletcher said. "Betting was up 8 percent on last year and we expect online betting to grow exponentially, but some people will be put off. The account betting structure allows for Internet and telephone betting to be done from the same account, but it was not an ideal situation for anyone." Fletcher said there was no way to determine how much betting was lost when the system crashed.
RACING UK Hits Target Number for Subscribers
Officials with RACING UK, the new daily British racing channel launched last spring, say hey hit their break-even target of 20,000 subscribers a year well ahead of deadline. RUK, which began broadcasting as a free-to-air element of the Sky Sports satellite package on May 29, claimed the crucial figure this week, 11 weeks after the company opened a one-month lead-in period before the switch to the subscription-only service on Oct. 1. RUK Executive Chairman Simon Bazalgette said the company was hoping to hit the mark within the first year to year-and-a-half of operations. "The racing industry asked a lot of questions when we first started," Bazalgette said. "This shows that racing is a lot stronger than some elements of the sport thinks it is. It also shows that it is possible for racecourses to take control of their media destiny." RUK was formed after the demise of the old Attheraces arrangement. It is owned by and has coverage from 31 courses, including all the majors except Ascot, which went with the newly re-launched At The Races channel.
Youbet.com Hits Record Marks for Breeders' Cup
Youbet.com reported impressive numbers for handle and new registrations during the Breeders' Cup. Its total handle of approximately $3.2 million for Oct. 30, inclusive of the Breeders' Cup program and all other racing content, was the second highest in the company's history. New registrations were up 27 percent compared to new registrations for the 2003 Breeders' Cup. The $3.2 million in total handle generated was only slightly below Youbet's largest daily total handle, which was achieved during the 2004 Kentucky Derby.
ECJ Ruling Could Delay BHB Plans
Officials with the British Horseracing Board said plans to modernize racing, including expanded fixture lists, could be delayed in the wake of a recent European Court Of Justice ruling. The court ruled last week that the BHB can't seek fees from bookmaker William Hill for use of portions of the board's pre-race data. BHB Chairman Martin Broughton said at a special media briefing in London on Monday that British racing's governing body had no better than a "3-1 or 4-1" chance to convince the Court Of Appeal to reverse last week's judgment. The BHB's income of about £14 million a year from overseas bookmakers would also be jeopardized within months if the Court Of Appeal rules against the board.