Bookmaker pain gives us all extra cause for cheer

Ladbrokes Coral figures show it is paying a heavy price for failing to beam live races into its shops

If you are a racing fan, you probably do not bother to follow bookmakers’ quarterly financial results. Over the years, they would have been a source of nothing but irritation. But those declared by Ladbrokes Coral Group and William Hill in the past fortnight have been a joy for those who care about the financial security of the sport.

First out of the blocks was Ladbrokes Coral. Since its merger, it has resembled a portly chocolate Labrador and a yappy Jack Russell terrier being taken to the park by a dog walker who has shackled them together too tightly.

The PLC minded Labrador is essentially a benign character, happy to support racing with generous sponsorship deals, so long as there is plenty of Pedigree Chum to go round. The terrier, on the other hand, is a Private Equity-esque aggressor, keener on biting anything that moves, including the Labrador, than doing deals that work for everyone.

Its results were not good. Betting shop over-the-counter take had fallen by seven per cent in the quarter that contained the Cheltenham Festival. But, when it announced its results, the business and trade journalists were fed the line that the results were “driven by the challenging UK high street environment” and swallowed it.

Cut to last week, when William Hill revealed its quarterly results. Lo and behold, over-the-counter take had increased by two per cent; and not a mention of a challenging high-street environment. More importantly, its turnover on racing was up five per cent.

That was the good news for racing, because the variable factor between the companies is that Ladbrokes Coral has failed to strike a deal to take live pictures from Arena’s racecourses, while William Hill has.

To put it bluntly, Ladbrokes Coral punters cannot see or hear 23 per cent of the races run in the UK, while William Hill’s can. That figure is set to rise to 43 per cent. So, any betting-shop punter who wants to have a bet on races run at Doncaster, Lingfield or Windsor, to name but a few courses, will be unlikely to head to a Ladbrokes Coral outlet. That also means they will not be playing on Ladbrokes Coral’s gaming machines, which are responsible for a good chunk of its profits.

But it does not end there. Ladbrokes Coral’s mobile-phone customers cannot live stream Arena’s races either. Which is likely to be driving them to competitors if they are racing punters. Who knows what the long-term cost of ‘lost customers’ will be to Ladbrokes Coral?

The worth of horse racing is beginning to become clearer. If one were to annual-ise these results, Ladbrokes Coral is likely to suffer annually an approximate loss of turnover of £366 million.

The numbers, however, could get worse. Losses may have accelerated from mid-february, when legal pressure stopped it pirating the off-tube commentaries from Arena’s racecourses.

In addition, Arena has now served proceedings to stop Ladbrokes Coral using the data around all its fixtures, which will increase from 324 fixtures this year to 650 next year. Should Ladbrokes

By taking on racing with a ‘dog-fight’ manner, Ladbrokes Coral has shot itself in the foot

Coral lose that one in the courts, who knows what its figures will look like in future?

This is all very significant for racing. If Ladbrokes Coral’s figures were not diving, and William Hill’s improving, you could guarantee that Ladbrokes Coral would have been shouting from the roof tops that it did not need British racing and that it was not worth the money it had been paying.

Simultaneously, it is not in William Hill’s interests to highlight the competitive advantage it is enjoying by taking Arena’s races and absorbing disenfranchised customers from Ladbrokes Coral.

By taking on British racing with a ‘dog-fight’ manner, Ladbrokes Coral has shot itself in the foot. Clearly its business does need to work with British racing if it is to flourish to its maximum potential and keep up with its competitors.

Perhaps some other bookmakers will speculate who is going to be the loser in this war of attrition. If I was pricing it up right now, I would be going; Andy Hornby ( Terrier) 8/11, Jim Mullen (Labrador) 2/1, Martin Cruddace (Arena) 7/2.