How The Tote and Totepool Betting Is Going To Change Online & At UK Racecourses

Since the Racecourse Betting Act of 1928 resulted in the formation of the Racehorse Betting Control Board, there has been the notion of a totalisator pool in British horse racing. As it happens, the actual type of betting that this encouraged didn’t come into effect until the following year. That was when Carlisle and Newmarket had pools betting as part of their courses and it gained more legitimacy when a company called Tote Investors Limited was set up in 1930. Despite the government’s involvement in the totalisator since the very start, it didn’t actually buy what became known as The Tote until 1962. That was in the wake of the introduction of the Betting Levy Act the year before, which allowed bookmakers to open shops on the high street.

The Tote remained in the control of the government until 2011 when it was sold, along with the online site Totesport, to Betfred in a deal believed to be worth around £265 million. That was after more than a decade of speculation that the government wanted to get it off their hands. The racing industry wasn’t delighted by the revelation that it was Fred Done’s Betfred who had won the tender, believing that he didn’t really care about horse racing and simply wanted to get hold of the three hundred and fifty shops that came under the Tote’s banner.

It was an uneasy marriage from the start, so no one was shocked when moves were made to offer a rival service to racecourse’s when Betfred’s exclusive seven-year monopoly on pools betting at racing venues came to an end in 2018.

For now things will not change much form the punters point of view as deal was signed in October 2018 between Fred Done and the Britbet and Alizeti consortiums (the two new rivals in the market) to keep one pool under the name Tote until at least 2025.  Here’s a look at what is going to happen next.

The Tote Is Not Dead

The first important thing to note here is that The Tote isn’t dying. When Betfred’s bid for it was accepted back in 2011, the deal was for Fred Done’s company to have a monopoly on pools betting on British racecourses for seven years. At the end of those seven years the monopoly would be up and racecourses could decide for themselves what to do about offering punters the ability to place pools bets.

Even though the monopoly ended the vast majority of UK racecourses have stuck with The Tote as any new contenders were not in a position to takeover any operatorons.  As a result, a ‘Standstill Agreement’ was reached that allowed The Tote to continue operating across most courses.

The big fear is if the Tote and Totepool markets are eventually divided between several companies and split into several pools this could be a death nail to the long established and much loved parimutuel bet system.  The Tote has already declined from 4% of the betting market in 2011, when Betfred bought it, to 3% now.

Many cite their belief that Fred Done was responsible for this decline, only interested in acquiring the Totepsport shops and has therefore neglected the pool betting side.  In actually it is just as much down to the much greater competition and the rise and innovation of online fixed odds betting.

The news therefore that an agreement has been reached that will keep the tote as a single pool, under the same name, will be a huge relief to fans of the bet type.  A £50 million last minute deal made between the two interested consortiums, Alizeti and Britbet (read about these next), will Tote in operation until at least 2025.

Even if eventually new pools come into existence  The Tote won’t be killed off altogether. As well as the numerous high street shops that still exist, there’s also a thriving online presence that people continue to enjoy using.

The Tote New Tote Consortium

Alizeti

In May 2018 a company known as Alizeti Capital bought a 25% stake in The Tote. The purchase was believed to have set the consortium back by about £150 million, adding in the option to purchase the remaining 75% in the future.

A racehorse owner and breeder named Alex Frost was the driving force behind the purchase and gained the support of fellow breeders, owners and people from across the racing industry. The fear was that allowing two different pools operations to exist would weaken the liquidity of both and eventually kill such a form of betting off altogether.

The Alizeti Consortium of Racehorse Owners firmly believes that a strong Tote is vital to the future of British racing. For starters, it costs just shy of £300 million to train race horses on a yearly basis, yet the current prize pool only amounts to around £140 million.

Given that the entire idea of The Tote is to put money back into the racing industry, it makes sense for the owners and trainers involved in horse racing to want to do their best to make it as good as it can be. It current only amounts for around three to four percent of bets placed on racing in the UK, whereas in Australia pools betting comes closer to the fifty percent mark.

Britbet

The first company that was formed to take advantage of the end of Betfred’s monopoly was Britbet. The company, which was formed as a collaboration between fifty-five racecourses around the country, came onto the scene with the slogan ‘by racing, for racing’. All but two of the major racecourses – Ascot and Chester – had chosen to join the Britbet bandwagon, instead opting to set up their own pools betting operation.

The decision for the company to put its launch on hold in June of 2018 came about because it felt that racing in general would benefit from having one strong totalisator betting organisation rather than two different ones. Alex Frost confirmed as much, saying, “Our team will continue to work with the Britbet team to ensure the best outcome for the sport in the months and years ahead”.

Now that talks between them and Alizeti and Britbet consortium have worked out and an agreement has been put in place the Britbet brand will be defunct before it has ever accepted a wager.  The overall outcome, producing the new tote consortium, is however the best case scenario for the future of pool betting in general in the UK with all parties now aligned with the greater interests of UK racing in mind.

The Situation Now For Tote and Totepool Betting

To begin with, the new deal means there won’t be a massive change for customers heading to British racecourses. The Tote is to continue as is, with the major difference being that Britbet will provide the staff to the 55 tracks that signed up to the new brand, those courses will also receive at least £50 million over the course of the arrangement to 2015.

The new company will also install new technology in order to take pools betting to the next level where possible. This includes new screens and also bet-taking equipment, both of which are designed to improve the customer experience when placing an actual bet.

Britbet obviously won’t be launched as was planned, but things will be put in place in the background to ensure that the whole Tote consortium is now put on a front footing, hopefully making it more competitive allowing it to recoup some lost market share.

The Alizeti invested Tote itself will continue to operate the betting shops as well as the online website Totesport and overall marketing of the brand.

Ascot, who launched their own pool betting brand called AscotBet in partnership with the Tote earlier this year, along with other courses that decided to go independent, will also be included in the single pool.

The Future Of Totepool Betting In The UK

At this stage, it’s difficult to say definitely what will happen to pool betting in the UK. The reality is that it’s not a particularly popular form of betting in the UK anyway (around 3-4% of the market).

Punters seem to overwhelmingly prefer to place fixed-odds bets rather than not know much they’re likely to be paid out when they win, which is the challenge that has faced The Tote ever since it launched.  Then again Tote betting is much bigger in other horse racing loving nations so there is no reason to believe that with the right marketing approach, sufficient innovation and the correct motivation that the Tote in Britain won’t start to grow again.

The fact that the Tote has been keep to a single pool is the biggest single advantage to the it’s future.  The amount of money in the pools is already low, so splitting it across two companies would have left both of them missing out on money and the sport suffering as a consequence.

A new steering committee has been put in place to ensure the entire Tote entity is aligned in its ambitions across all platforms. New equipment at racecourses and more staff should help to revive the ailing reputation of the brand.  Reduced deductions on pools and the proposal of more £1,000,000 pools should also help grab the public attention.  We may even see some new totepool bets and promotions coming out to boost the market.

The other major factor could be if Alezeti manages to buy out the remaining 75% of the Tote, thereby removing the Betfred influence that many see as a negative influence.  Part of the 2018 agreement means there will now be a ‘double levy’ going to racing but perhaps only once the Tote is 100% in the hands of the consortium will the priority be able to properly shift back to UK horse racing.