Tag Archives: cheltenham festival

The bookmakers suffered a bad start to this year’s Cheltenham Festival, despite the early failure of Getabird and a surprisingly off-colour showing from the much-vaunted Apples Jade. Ridden by Ruby Walsh, Getabird was nowhere to be seen in the closing stages of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, as Summerville Boy came from behind to take victory from Kalashnikov. Stephen …

BetBright has unveiled the world’s first robot jockey, who will be available for punters at Cheltenham Festival to view and interact with on Friday March 16, adjacent to the parade ring in the bookies activation area. The prototype jockey, made from lightweight steel and utilising state of the art technology, “offers a glimpse into the potential future of the sport.” Marcus …

FTSE100 betting group Ladbrokes Coral Plc may seek to significantly reduce its £8 million sports sponsorship budget, should the UK government drastically reduce FOBTs wagering levels through its pending industry review judgement. Operating as the UK bookmaker with the most exposure to FOBTs revenues, Ladbrokes Coral governance eagerly awaits the government’s judgement on machine wagering reductions, which is anticipated to …

Betdaq has agreed its first racing sponsorship within the United Kingdom in almost two years, thanks to a new partnership with Kempton Park. The Ladbrokes Coral owned betting exchange is to be headline sponsor for Betdaq Chase Day, set to be held on Saturday February 24, which will encompass a six race card. Amongst them are the Grade 2 Betdaq …

BetBright has announced its duo of celebrity sporting captains for its fiercely contested 2018 Cheltenham Festival charity cup. Ex England cricket spin bowler Phil Tufnell and former snooker star Ken Doherty have been appointed as captains of Great Britain and Ireland respectively, as they bid for bragging right. The trophy is to be awarded to the country with the greatest …

National Express has signed a three year ‘Official Coach and Bus Partner’ agreement with The Jockey Club. This deal will see the UK’s largest coach operator provide dedicated services across the United Kingdom, direct to all major events in The Jockey Club’s racing calendar. As part of the new service, it’s promised that it will “provide customers with drop off …

UK terrestrial TV broadcaster ITV is pleased by its first year of coverage of UK racing, detailing to The Times that it ‘feels vindicated’ by its decision to invest in the sport. In January 2016, ITV secured the rights to broadcast Racecourse Media Group (RMG) syndicated content, replacing Channel 4 Racing as the lead domestic TV broadcaster for racing. Setting …

William Hill has claimed wagering growth across all four of its divisions in the first half of 2017, although profit before interest and tax was 11% lower than the corresponding period in 2016. However, given that there was some revenue growth (3% to £837.0m) against last year’s figures which had been boosted from the Euro 2016 tournament, and adjusted operating …

Betway has agreed a contract extension to sponsor the Grade One Queen Mother Champion Chase for the next three Cheltenham Festivals. The champion two-mile chase was Betway’s first major racing sponsorship deal back in 2015, when Dodging Bullets shot to victory under Sam Twiston-Davies, and the leading online bookmaker will now sponsor the top-level contest up to and including 2020. …

Speaking on Newstalk’s ‘Breakfast Business’ show, Mark O’Neil Chief Financial Officer of Irish independent bookmaker Boylesports stated his firm’s intent on growing its UK retail network. O’Neil detailed that despite losing its bid to takeover Ladbrokes-Coral merger betting shop ‘offcuts’ which would have given his firm a ‘solid retail platform’, BoyleSports will move to pursue its long awaited plans of …