British and Irish racing’s World Pool days top £500m in turnover
Comingled liquidity across 17 race days throughout the Flat season sees total amount staked jump 44% on last year
This Flat season’s 17 World Pool days in Great Britain and Ireland generated £521m in gross turnover.
The World Pool race days, which began with QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day in May and culminated with QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, were up 44% on the £363m generated in 2021.
The final World Pool on British Champions Day saw gross turnover swell 43% compared with last year to £27.9 million.
Created by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, World Pool is a collaboration of more than 20 pool betting operators around the world, including the Tote in the UK and Ireland, whereby liquidity is comingled to create bigger pools.
The result is major events in summer racing’s calendar like the Epsom Derby meeting and Glorious Goodwood hit record gross turnover of £59.5m and £97m, respectively.
The record turnover is a small shot in the arm for British racing’s finances at a time of falling attendances at race meetings and off-course punters walking away from the sport due to bookmakers’ affordability checks and account restrictions.
Michael Fitzsimons, executive director of wagering products of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “We are delighted to see British and Irish World Pool days grow so strongly this year with the sporting action proving increasingly popular with racing fans, who appreciate seeing the best horses and jockeys competing at a wide variety of fantastic racecourses.”
Meanwhile, Alex Frost, chief executive of the UK Tote Group, which runs Tote, commented: “Everyone at the UK Tote is enormously proud to be part of World Pool as it continues to grow, thereby increasing both the financial return it contributes to British and Irish racing and the excellent value it creates for racing fans betting with the Tote.
“The implicit ambition of World Pool is to ensure an additive and more sustainable funding mechanism for horseracing, with wagering customers enjoying an improved value proposition.”
Frost and UK Tote Group’s racing and liquidity director, Jamie Hart, spoke exclusively to EGR recently on their plans to grow the Tote and make pari-mutuel betting an viable option for any serious racing punter.