Back in the saddle

Bookie Ladbrokes Coral resolves dispute over broadcast rights

BOOKMAKER Ladbrokes Coral has ended a dispute with a major racecourse owner over the price of broadcast rights.

A week before the bookie updates investors on trading, it has agreed a deal on media rights with the Racing Partnership, which covers 15 courses owned by Arena Racing Company, the UK’S largest racecourse operator, and seven independent tracks. Ladbrokes’ retail estate had been suffering from the lack of pictures from 22 racecourses after it refused to pay the Racing Partnership’s charge to show races.

Broker Barclays said the stalemate meant Ladbrokes Coral was showing 23pc fewer fixtures in its shops than rivals, which it thought was “leading to William Hill and Paddy Power Betfair taking retail market share”.

Barclays said it thought customers would either spend time at rival bookmakers or simply not visit Ladbrokes’ shops as often. “The longer that LCL does not have content parity with peers, the greater the risk customers move allegiance to rivals,” it said.

The broker also predicted that if a deal was not struck, it would have meant that 43pc of horse races and roughly 70pc of greyhound races would not have been screened at Ladbrokes, Coral and rival Betfred, which still has not struck an agreement, in 2018.

The new deal means Ladbrokes Coral’s 3,820 betting shops across the UK and Ireland will now be able to show races from the 22 sites under the agreement, as well as South African racing, which is additionally included. Content will also be streamed on mobile devices shortly.

The pair called the deal a “first-of-a-kind” because it was based purely on a profit-share model, meaning both parties have an incentive to raise the amount bet on horse racing. Agreements with other gambling companies are partly based on profit-share but have a base amount that must be paid.

Funding for horse racing has been in the spotlight recently. Earlier this year, the Government made changes to the horse racing levy, a 10pc charge on bookmakers’ gross profits above the first £500,000.

Until recently the charge had only been paid by UK companies with overseas businesses able to volunteer to pay. But now all gambling firms that take bets on British horse racing must pay the charge. The levy funds things such as prize money, veterinary science and jockey welfare. Shares in Ladbrokes rose 2.4pc to close at 118.7p.