Flutter backs launch of British horseracing’s Premier Racedays

Flutter Entertainment has praised the launch of British horseracing’s new Premier Racedays strategy to attract more bettors to the sport.

Premier Racedays, which had its brand identity revealed today by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), will see fan engagement and innovation put at the top of the 2024 priority list for the sport.

Starting with Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, the BHA has marked out 170 Premier Racedays throughout 2024, with more than 90% of those to be broadcast on ITV.

The rollout of the Premier Racedays strategy is part of a two-year pilot programme to drive a shift in fortunes for British horseracing, centred around a “focussed marketing and promotional support” including plans for a “major national promotional campaign”, subject to support from the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

Under the six-pillar approach to drive engagement in the sport, horseracing will work with operators to offer specific incentives around Premier Racedays, including offers and promotional content.

Seb Butterworth, the director of Sporting Life under the umbrella of Flutter-owned Sky Betting and Gaming, championed the launch of Premier Racedays.

He said: “Flutter has been working closely with racing over the last three years to help put the customer at the centre of racing’s proposition.  

“One area we are particularly excited about is the roll out of simplified racecards.

“Racing is often cited as a difficult to understand and engage with sport – particularly from a form perspective – and these new racecards, developed upon customer research and feedback, will be aimed at demystifying racing and making this amazing sport more accessible to a broader demographic.  

“We are really looking forward to working with racing to roll these out across Premier Racedays in 2024 and beyond,” Butterworth added.

The other five pillars set to drive growth for horseracing are: improved broadcasts, a new digital content strategy, the promotion of jockeys, improving on-course customer experience as well as paid and earned media promotion.

Joe Saumarez Smith, BHA chair, said: “British racing’s stakeholders unanimously agreed the way to grow our sport is to better showcase and sell our best racing. The pilot of Premier Racedays is the start of this process.  

“Substantial work is also underway to ensure that the industry is properly structured – and funded – to be able to better promote the new Racedays, as well as improving the racing experience for all our customers, be they racegoers, armchair viewers, owners or punters.

“The agreed vision is that all of these efforts will result in growth in the sport with a trickle-down effect which supports the long-term sustainability of the industry at all levels,” the chair concluded.