New sponsorship deals for Wigan Warriors
March 25, 2009 by mbates
One of the UK’s largest Bingo Brands Mecca owned by the Rank Organisation have signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Rugby League side Wigan Warriors taking over from the previous shirt sponsors JJB.
A spokesman for Rank released a statement, “’MeccaBingo.com is proud to be so closely involved with Wigan Warriors as well as the sport of rugby league”
The Chief Exec of Wigan Warriors Mick Hogan said “’It is particularly pleasing to have such a well-known, national organisation in partnership with the Wigan Warriors for the 2009 season”. Tote Sport have just renewed their existing sponsorship deal with the Warriors and will continue to act as the teams betting partner.
Betfair announce Ascot sponsorship deal
December 11, 2008 by mbates
The Internet Betting Exchange Betfair has outlined a new five year sponsorship deal that will see it sponsoring key races at Ascot including the Queen Elizabeth and King George VI stakes, this new deal will make Betfair the second largest sponsor in the racing industry, the state owned Tote still holds first place. The deal will see the three day event in July branded as “Betfair Weekend”.
The First Commercial Chase will now become the Betfair Ascot Chase. The sponsorship will see the value of the race raise to an impressive £1 million and will help the event that has suffered from a lack of sponsorship for the previous two seasons.
Betfair’s director of horse racing Stephen Burn, said “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Ascot on this ground-breaking agreement, especially as it will take us up to and beyond the course’s historic tercentenary in 2011. Betfair’s first market was the Oaks in 2000, when 36 people had a bet. It is extraordinary that less than 10 years later we are involved in a deal like this.”
Sale of Tote postponed
October 23, 2008 by mbates
The proposed sale of the state owned Tote this autumn has been placed on hold indefinitely due to the current state of the UK and global economy. The UK Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said the Tote would only be sold at a time when the correct market value could be achieved and would deliver value to the UK tax payer.
Mr Sutcliffe said “It is right that the Tote is now given time to grow the business so that any future sale will achieve maximum value. In particular, I would expect the Tote and racing to continue to work closely together for the benefit of the sport and the punter. The government would like to place on record again its warm appreciation of the loyalty and dedication of the Tote and its staff whilst its future has been under consideration”
The Tote has over 450 shops and has a workforce of 4,500 employees; it also has a major presence on the 59 racecourses around England, the Tote has been valued at just over £400 million by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Some of the potential bidders for the Tote who have expressed an interest include Gala Coral, Betfred and Sportech plc who have recently taken over operation of the Football Pools.
Channel 4 Racing Bets
September 21, 2007 by mcohen
The Channel 4 Racing bets are all on once again after the a firm owned by the Dubai government began exclusive negotiations for a two-year £4m sponsorship deal and this will permit the Channel 4 coverage to continue as it was reported that it would come off the air if a new sporsor was not found to take over from totesport after they have decided to pull out of their support of the programme.
Dubai is the up and coming city for the next decade and they are very proud of their Horse RAcing and Dubai festival and a company called Dubai Holding, which owns and controls companies including Tussauds Group, Travelodge and the “seven-star” sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel, is discussing a deal that covers 80 days a year of Channel 4 terrestrial horse racing coverage.
Dubai Holding is a company that belongs to the government of Dubai. The ruler of the emirate, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, controls almost all of the company.
Companies including Betfair and Satellite Information Services had been tipped as front runners to take over the Channel 4 horseracing sponsorship.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Totesport Cricket Bets
September 7, 2007 by mcohen
The online bookie totesport may weel regret offering what now looks like a best bet odds when they went 11/4 for the Indians to win their last two matches against England at the Oval and Lords and thus win the series 4-3 and those odds look generous now.
After their thrilling 2 wicket victory on Wednesday India now look a fair bet to take advantage of England’s problems and snatch the NatWest Series one-day series.
The touristsl have a renewed optimism after winning at Headingley last Sunday and England, having established a 3-1 lead in the seven-match series, suddenly look vulnerable. Andrew Flintoff continues to be troubled by ankle problems, while fellow all-rounder Ravi Bopara is definitely out with a broken thumb. Chris Tremlett will also be absent with a foot problem.
On top of that, the dynamic Kevin Pietersen is suffering a rare blip in form - his past four contributions have been 25, 9, 18, 0 and a 50odd but a poor error of judgement in running himself out and Alastair Cook is playing himself out of form.
By contrast, India’s leading batsmen will go to Lords in good heart, with their top order in great form. It is all set up for Sachin Tendulkar, in particular, has been in excellent form - averaging 50 in the first five fixtures of the series. He is 7-2 with Coral to be India’s top runscorer at the Lords and the stage is set for possibly his last match at the famous St Johns Wood ground and a 100 is very possibe having got out in the ninties more times than not this summer.
Sale of bookmaker Totesport set new deadline
August 29, 2007 by admin
The UK government has set September 28th as a deadline for investors in the horse racing industry to put forward its bid for state-owned bookmaker Totesport. The government is brokering a sale with the racing consortium, which includes Tote management, the Race Course Association and the Racehorse Owners Association.
The Labour government pledged to sell the Tote to the racing industry in 2001, but an attempted sale in 2005 was blocked by the European Commission, which said the price was so low that it constituted state aid. Following the Commission ruling, the government had the Tote valued by PricewaterhouseCoopers at a reported price of about 400 million pounds and invited offers.
Totesport was set up in 1928 and comprises 540 high street betting shops, 59 betting shops on race courses and Britain’s tote pool betting system. Some racing industry players have questioned whether the Tote would be able to meet its mandate of investing in racing if its new owner were burdened by heavy interest payments after funding the deal with debt.
An initial bid of around 320 million pounds from the racing industry consortium was rejected. Europe’s biggest gambling firm, Gala Coral, has offered to pay 405 million pounds ($796 million), but the government has pledged to sell the Tote to the industry.
