UK Bookmakers Plan to Improve Horseracing Industry
In the UK the horseracing industry is going to celebrate Christmas a little bit earlier.
Bookmakers there have settled to an agreement that will give tracks a financial boost to help them survive the COVID-19 crisis as the coronavirus pandemic begins to take its toll on the businesses, as well as the whole gambling industry worldwide.
Betting sites around the U.K. and Ireland recently announced it will shut to comply with government-issued directives to curb a fresh surge of COVID-19 incidents.
As industry waits to see what their respective governments can do to help cover the losses, bookmakers are scaling up, including extra payments for horseracing tracks on current video and internet packages.
The extra money will be charged by December 2, which is when the countries are supposed to remove the renewed closures. However, amid the attempts, there is still a risk that a number of betting shops will be forced to permanently close due to lack of sales.
The sums to be revealed haven't been disclosed, and will most likely vary based on the form and nature of the agreements. Newbury Racecourse's CEO, Julian Thick, appreciates the initiative, and agrees that ensuring the tracks succeed will go a long way. He said in a statement,
“This additional funding will be much valued by racecourses but it won’t plug the hole left by lost revenues from LBO closures for the next month. Make no mistake, racecourses are really suffering at the moment, and the return of crowds is absolutely critical to us operating but we are grateful for [the] betting industry’s support throughout the difficulties of the COVID-19 crisis.”
One of the UK's and Ireland biggest service suppliers to racecourses is the Racecourse Media Company, covering 35 British tracks with all 26 of them based in Ireland.
The company has been negotiating with its suppliers to negotiate arrangements to slightly jack up the payments charged and, like Newbury, wants the extra revenue to allow the tracks to remain alive for at least a little while.
RMG Commercial Director Nick Mills also points out how much can be done by the racing and gaming sectors as they come together for a shared purpose.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) released its own statement about the agreement, reiterating the value of the contract with both the divisions of gambling and racing.
However, it goes one step further and will help to place pressure on governments to step forward and give some form of economic assistance to an sector that has supplied their coffers with trillions of dollars in tax revenue over the years.
