Following successful voluntary experiments at Kelso and Musselburgh, the bookmakers associations that cover the five Scottish racecourses have unanimously agreed to advise their members not to use betting exchanges as a means to hedging in the on-course betting rings, beginning at Ayr on Monday, February 27.
John Carroll, Secretary of the East of Scotland Bookmakers Association described the recent trials at Kelso and Musselburgh as “hugely successful” and explained the move would considerably strengthen betting rings on Scottish racecourses.
“We shall monitor the situation and any bookmaker who does not comply will be named and shamed and will find it impossible to generate business through trade transactions. Hopefully, the move will bring benefits right across the board and management at all five courses are firmly behind the scheme,” said Carroll, who also added to have had good response from Coral and Ladbrokes about continuing to hedge in the ring.
“Ladbrokes and Coral both returned to hedging in the ring, rather than through the exchanges, and it proved to have a positive impact on overall business.”
“We hope William Hill will come on board when they witness the positive effect the change will make.”
The emergence of betting exchanges and a change in rules sanctioned by the Levy Board, which since 2003 allows racecourse bookmakers to bypass the ring and hedge their liabilities with the exchanges, have weakened the on-course betting market.
“There\’s an absolute malaise in the ring, and not just in Scotland. Money that would normally be passed around various course bookmakers has been going out of the ring, and the whole operation has been weakened,” explained Carroll.
“The value of pitches has plummeted, and that applies even at the top venues such as Cheltenham and York. By agreeing not to use betting exchanges for hedging purposes, we are trying to reinvigorate the ring, and to stop it stagnating even further.”
Earlier in the week, Betfair made the news when it offered the Racecourse Association to invest upwards of £100,000 to develop the Betfair Blankets, a system which would provide full racecourse cover for meetings threatened by frost.
“We are undertaking a feasibility study and although it is an idea that has been in the pipeline for a while now we’ve only just begun the costing and practical discussions,” explained Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin .
“The RCA have initially been very positive and we’ve set aside a six-figure budget to help keep racing’s show on the road.”
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