News from the Tote - March 2021
Introduction
Welcome to the March update from the Tote about our latest developments.
This month’s update focuses on our plans for the Cheltenham Festival and other business developments.
As ever we are very grateful to the team at the ROA for sharing these updates on our behalf.
If you have any further questions, or areas you would like to discuss with us in more detail, please email our Communications and Corporate Affairs Director, Susannah Gill, on [email protected].
Cheltenham Festival
The Tote has three key offers for customers betting on the Cheltenham Festival next week. These are all unique to pool betting:
- Tote Ten to Follow Mini Game for the Cheltenham Festival: Last week we launched on tote.co.uk a Tote Ten to Follow Mini Game covering the four days of the Festival. The Mini Game operates in the same way as the season long game with a paid league (£5 entry, unlimited entries) and a free-to-play league (one entry per customer). The competition is open until 10pm on Monday 15th March. The prize pool for the paid league will run down to 500th place with exact prize values dependent on the number of entries. The top prizes for the free league will include:
- Annual Membership for Cheltenham (including the Festival)
- Annual Membership for Leopardstown
- Two hospitality tickets to the Cheltenham Panorama Restaurant for Saturday 13th November
- A pair of 2022 Gold Cup Day Tickets
The transfer window for the main season-long Tote Ten to Follow game opens on Wednesday 10th March allowing players to swap up to two horses in their stables ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.
- The Placepot: The Tote will be promoting the placepot as the ‘must do’ bet for each day of the Cheltenham Festival. This has been helped with the news that all 6 races each day will be shown live on ITV Racing.
- Tote Guarantee: We will continue to promote the value of the pool with Tote Guarantee in place on all UK and Irish racing, meaning the Tote win price will always match or exceed the Industry Starting Price.
International Update
World Pool days in 2021: This year both the 2000 Guineas and Derby racedays will be World Pool events, along with the five days for Royal Ascot and British Champions Day. The full announcement about this can be read here.
In addition, there will be further news about more World Pool days for British racing in 2021 in the coming weeks.
John Williamson, UK Tote Group Chairman, said: “As the UK Tote, we are incredibly proud of our partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and greatly admire the pioneering approach of Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges and the Hong Kong Jockey Club team in bringing together pool betting operators from around the world.
“Having more World Pool days on British race meetings in 2021 highlights the strength and depth of the sport in Great Britain. This was underlined earlier this year when the Juddmonte International Stakes at York Racecourse was confirmed as the Longines top flat race in the world in 2020, with British racing currently staging 22 of the top hundred races, more than any other racing nation.
“These are challenging times for British racing but with racecourses, media rights companies and the Tote able to come together with international partners to utilise pool betting and showcase British racing to an international audience, we have a crucial opportunity to boost the sport’s fan base and increase betting revenues, this year and beyond.”
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer, said: “We were delighted with the first two years of World Pool and are grateful to the Hong Kong Government for approving further simulcast days in 2021. British racing hosts some of the most prestigious racing in the world and we are pleased to be able to extend World Pool to the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and Derby racedays, alongside Royal Ascot and British Champions Day. We look forward to continuing to work together with the Tote and all in British racing as we confirm further World Pool days in order to grow pool betting and showcase the best racing in the world to international racing audiences.”
Richard Johnson's Ambassador role
Content from Richard continues to perform well on the Tote’s social media channels. For example, a Valentine’s Day message from Richard with 43-time race winner Menorah received 650 likes and over 2,000 views across Facebook and Twitter:
New Chairman Blog
We have started a new blog from our Chairman, John Williamson, as a way of sharing the Tote’s views in an engaging and personal manner. These are posted on the UK Tote Group website and across Twitter and LinkedIn. The first blog looked at the role of pool betting internationally and the second one celebrated National Apprenticeship Week and team work at the Tote. Both have received a positive response, with a total of nearly 4,000 views of the tweet on social media and over 250 on LinkedIn.
Greyhound betting
We are working with Towcester Greyhound Stadium on an innovative partnership to offer low margin, competitive pool betting on greyhounds. This will offer greyhound fans a genuine alternative to the existing high margin fixed odds offering from bookmakers. It will launch with the English Greyhound Derby as part of this development the Tote committed to supporting the British Greyhound Racing Fund, which supports the welfare and integrity of the sport.
In our next update in April we will be looking towards the flat season ahead of the first World Pool event of 2021 on 2000 Guineas day.