Horseracing

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has appointed Darragh O’Loughlin as its new Chief Executive Officer, which comes into effect from 29 June 2022. Previously Secretary General of the Irish Pharmacy Union from 2013 until April 2022, O’Loughlin has also served as a Council member of The Pharmacy Regulator (PSI) for six years and was a  board member of the …

SIS (Sports Information Services) has secured its latest betting operator client, providing Loyalbet with horse and greyhound racing content from a range of countries. The agreement will cover over 65,000 live horse and dog racing events annually from across 165 racecourses and tracks from five continents, including ‘premium live’ UK and Irish horse racing fixtures.  Additionally, international horse racing coverage …

Spotlight Sports Group (SSG) has moved to strengthen its standing in North America via a new commercial partnership with Playmaker Capital that will continue its expansion of betting services on the continent.   The sports betting content and technology group has entered into an agreement with Playmaker Capital, to service its flagship US sports media platform Yardbarker. SSG will provide …

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has revealed that it is going to offer a ‘record total’ prize money and incentives of HK$1.62 billion (approximately £158.6 million) across the 2022/23 racing season. The overall purse will be bolstered by a record single-season increase of 11.5% (HK$167.2 million) and feature a range of innovations, including increases in prize money across middle-distance races …

James and Hugh O’Donnell have stated their intention to raise £2 million to support their ‘Racehorse Lotto’ venture’s expansion in Ireland, according to The Telegraph.  The brothers – James is the former horse racing breeder for the Queen and Hugh is CEO of Furlong Games and worked as an investment banker – want to grow the lottery, which functions as …

Novibet has moved to strengthen its position in horse racing and in the Irish betting space, partnering with champion jockey Brian Hughes.  The agreement is Novibet’s first in the sport of horse racing, whilst the firm is also hopeful that the deal will increase its brand recognition in Irish sports betting markets by partnering with Hughes for the remainder of …

This year’s Grand National proved to be another commercial success for the UK’s bookmakers, as Entain detailed that it had taken a ‘record-breaking’ number of wagers.  The Ladbrokes and Coral operator reported that over 12.75 million bets were placed during the three days of the Grand National festival at Aintree racecourse, a substantial increase on the last fixture in 2019.  …

Charities throughout the UK have benefited from large sums of money donated by bookmakers after MPs from around the country joined in on the Grand National action by placing charity bets. The UK’s biggest betting operators had vowed to hand over any winnings on MP charity bets to their charity of choice. The eventual winner was 50/1 shot Noble Yeats, …

Fakenham Racecourse has become the latest British racing venue to join the Racecourse Media Group (RMG), bolstering the latter’s output of UK content.  The deal – in place from 1 May 2022 to 31 December 2028 – now means that RMG will broadcast live racing from 36 British racecourses and all 26 Irish tracks, via the Racing TV network, with …

Coral has begun to trial a 360° Virtual Reality (VR) Horseracing Experience, developed by Entain Plc’s in-house technology studio.  The first of its kind VR experience has been created in partnership with JockeyCam, a technology that captures the best live footage of racing action, providing audiences with the experience of what it is like to be a jump jockey.     Entain’s …