SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
XB Net has secured an extension of its agreement with the UK Tote Group, as the latter seeks to continue offering a diverse portfolio of horse racing fixtures.
The agreement allows the Tote to offer ‘the overhauling majority of premier stateside races’ to its customers in the UK and Ireland, encompassing live pictures, data and betting services from XB Net’s network of 60 North American racecourses.
Beginning this week with the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in Keeneland, the partnership aims to capture and retain audience attention during competitive digital-entertainment cycles’.
Jon Knapman, UK Tote Group Chief Commercial Officer, said: “As a leading player in pool betting, we want to provide our customers with the biggest global pools and for them to be able to bet on the best racing in the world.
“With pool betting being dominant in US racing, we are delighted to work with XB Net as the leading distributor of North American content, integrating improved feeds alongside associated data and content, such as silks and ratings, with which to elevate the experience for our customers.
“Our customers have already seen the added enjoyment and value that U.S. racing brings to the wider horse racing fan experience. Now it’s an honour to be bringing the Breeders’ Cup World Championships to our UK and Irish audience in what promises to be a thrilling renewal.”
Future fixtures covered under the agreement include the Pegasus World Cup and two legs of the Triple Crown, which features the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
The partners hope that by delivering the Tote with a stream of ‘authentic US horse racing’, the UK’s pool betting operator will be able to plug ‘any gap in the betting calendar with engaging, easy-access content’.
XB Net is a racing content, managing international rights, data, odds and live broadcast and video streaming partner for several racing and betting industry stakeholders, with a focus on North American horse racing.
The company corrals low-latency feeds from 2,500 racing meetings in the US, showing 25,000 races per year, and has detailed investment and growth of the North American horse racing scene as a key objective moving forward.
With regards to betting, XB maintains arrangements with the likes of Flutter Entertainment, bet365, William Hill, Codere, Playtech and Entain, as it seeks to diversify its operations across fixed-odds, spread betting and commingled wagering throughout Europe, Asia, North and Central America and Australia.
Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President International at XB Net, added: “Securing this continued collaboration with a brand as synonymous with racing as UK Tote Group is another feather in the cap of our diligent team.
“We’ve been impressed by the UK Tote Group’s recent moves to reignite the UK Tote for a contemporary racing audience, and XB Net’s wide range of low-latency racing solutions and racetracks are providing them with a deeper well from which to draw premium content.
Fraser emphasised that it was a ‘privilege to continue working with’ The UK Tote Group, operator of the UK Tote – one of the world’s biggest pool betting operations – and a key member of the World Pool.
He added that returning value to racing, racetracks, owners and horsemen’s groups would be one of the partnership’s goals, as well as safeguarding the sport of horse racing.
“Live, premium daily sport is ostensibly an easy sell wherever you are in the world,” he continued. “Tellingly, though, if that sport’s betting markets are consistent and its framework familiar to the end user (allied to synchronicity with local leisure periods) then we’ve found that engagement gains quicker and more durable traction with audiences.
“The GMT time zone is, of course, well-positioned to migrate from its domestic racing scene into top-class ‘evening’ meetings stateside, so high-quality 24/7 programming is now an attainable reality for our customers.
“We can’t wait to see how our comprehensive package continues to perform for the Tote over a range of coming attractions this winter, with this week’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, for which we hold the international distribution rights, an imminent highlight.”
