Victor Chandler scales down racecourse betting

Victor Chandler have this week scaled back there onsite racecourse betting as part of a major restructure of their racecourse betting. The money is according to Victor Chandler no longer there as punters are saving on travel costs and use the traditional companies’ online equivalent and betting exchanges such as Betfair instead.

On track bookies are now having to rely more on the high days such as the Grand National and other festivals as well as holidays to ensure their survival, one on track bookie commented “I’d like to think things have reached rock bottom, but I don’t think they have. With the economic situation, it’s going to be a rough 12 to 18 months. In another five years, I’d think there might be no more than 50% of the bookmakers who were here three years ago.“

Record Breaking Grand National on the Cards

This year’s Grand National is expected to break all previous records for betting turnover on the most famous horse race in the world as the nation goes horse racing and gambling mad for oen day. Industry insiders are predicting record turnover both both on the high street and with more people than ever vefore anticipated to place their Grand National bets via the internet.

The Grand National is a race steeped in heritage and has become something of a Great British institution over the years. Many of the millions of people who place bets on the 40 runner, 4 mile 4 furlong marathon steeplechase over Aintree’s famous fences will often only place the one bet during the course the year and that will be on the Grand National. The estimated total worth of bets placed within the betting industry is predicted to be in the region of £650 million and whilst it is usually a big pay day for bookmakers this year’s race may make for little more uncomfortable viewing.

One of the main reasons that bookmakers have come to love the Grand National so much is because the winning horse is often a big price, resulting more people backing losers than winners, thus bigger profits for the bookies! However, this year looks set to be different with the shortest priced favourite in years set to line up - the 6/1 shot Cloudy Lane. Many people will automaticly back the favourite becuase it is the easiest selection method, but this favourite has an excellent chance and will be even more popular as a result of being trained by David McCain, son of Ginger McCain, trainer of the most famous Grand National horse of all - Red Rum. If Cloudy Lane can justify his favourite tag and does go on to win the Grand National Odds, bookmakers will be bracing themselves for yet another record - the most paid out on a single race.

Paddy Power Cheltenham Betting Up

The Paddy Power betting group showed excellent half year results for the six months ended 30 June the company reported an operating profit growth of 108pc to €40.8m and was very pleased with its Cheltenham Festival betting in shops due to the new epos system, even though there were some online problems on one of the days of the festival. The company reported revenues of €143.7m, up considerably from the €104.9m reported in the same period last year.

Paddy Power chief executive Patrick Kennedy was reported to be very pleased with operating profits at its online channel which increased by 53pc or €5.1m in the first half of 2007.

Chief Executive Patrick Kennedy was very encouraged with the online results as “Customer numbers in the online channel continued to grow strongly with an 18pc increase at the end of the half year relative to June 2006, despite slower growth in sports book customers without the Football World Cup,” Kennedy explained.

“Online competition remains intense but we are confident that our brand, product range and top class customer service, as well as our continuous drive to increase our marketing efficiency, means we are well positioned for growth.”

Kennedy said that the aim is to continue to invest in people and technology to optimise customer acquisition and retention.

“For example, we added our newly developed affiliate management system to paddypower.com during the period, automating the process for other web site operators to promote our products on their websites.

“This year’s Cheltenham Festival and Grand National were the first for many shops with EPOS and we were pleased with the improvement in customer service from speedier bet placement and collection, including the benefit of EPOS readable ‘mark sense’ dockets for shop coupons and press promotions,” Kennedy explained.

“We are also extracting more benefits by continuously refining and acting upon information from the system for operational management, marketing, risk and security,” he added.

VCbet sign Deal with Racing UK

Racing UK which is one of the two major racing chanels in the UK has entered into an arrangement with VCbet as their sole sponsor on the station. Vcbet have put up an undisclosed six figure deal to be the sole sponsor of their coverage of 12 of the year’s Key Events including all the racing from The Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National Meeting, The Epsom Derby Meeting & Glorious Goodwood. Victor Chandler will promote their sports betting brand VC Bet through the sponsorship.

Racing UK covers 30 of the leading race courses and is a quality service for Horse racing punters and in a very short period of time is beamed to nearly 2 million homes and it offers exclusive live coverage of over 600 meetings in the horse racing calendar from 30 of the most prestigious racecourses in the UK. Racing UK as offered at VCBet, is also part of the Setanta Sports Pack allowing exclusive access to USPGA Golf and 46 Premiership matches.