Britbet launch met with scepticism by international audience

Serious reservations about the success of Britbet, the 55-racecourse tote operation that will launch on July 14, have been voiced – by a Brit.

David Attenborough, chief executive of the Australian betting giant Tabcorp and a former senior figure at Ladbrokes, on Wednesday described the venture as "high risk".

Referring to the minuscule UK pool-betting market, compared with fixed odds, he said: "It's only three per cent of the total anyway, and now they are going to split the pool. That’s a really hard model to make money out of."

The Betfred-owned Totepool, which has held an exclusive licence for seven years, is to continue, and will be linked with Ascot and Chelmsford, while Chester and Bangor have not offered on-track pool betting since 2011.

Attenborough, who was responding to a presentation at the Asian Racing Conference in Seoul by Simon Bazalgette, chief executive of the Jockey Club, which is a prime mover behind Britbet, added: "I wish them well, but I’ll be fascinated to look at it in two years’ time and see if they have made a success of it."

Simon Bazalgette: Britbet offering to work with bookmakersCredit: Edward Whitaker

Replying to Attenborough's comments, Bazalgette said: "Yes, there will be split liquidity, but if you look at the bet types, most of the win pool comes from the racecourse and we’ll control that. We’ll have to see how the pools on exotic bets work out.

"And yes, the market for pool-betting at the moment is less than three per cent, but that gives us an opportunity on which to build."

Implied criticism also came from Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, who asked, with an element of incredulity: "Why couldn’t the UK agree on a single pool?"

Bazalgette explained: "Totepool is effectively owned by one man [Betfred boss Fred Done] and he doesn't like to do partnerships."

During his presentation, Bazalgette addressed some of the challenges, saying: "There is clearly a risk of fragmentation of pools and off course the potential for confusion, but we also think there is potential for collaboration and co-mingling.

"Although we have less than two months before we launch, we still think there are opportunities and we are in discussions. The good thing for us is that almost 100 per cent of single-leg bets come through racecourses and international co-mingling, which is the area we will control from day one.

"Off course, we are offering to work with bookmakers, because this is not competitive to fixed odds but additional product for retail betting operators, and there is still potential for collaboration with Totepool for off-course distribution."

Despite Attenborough’s reservations, his company has an interest in Britbet getting off the ground, since Tabcorp is partly responsible for providing the newcomer with some IT services through PGI, its joint venture with South Africa-based Phumelela Gaming & Leisure.

Tabcorp international general manager Brett Gorman said: "We're helping out Britbet, and if there are any issues at the launch we’ll be their back-up and will host pools through our hub in the Isle of Man. As for pooling of bets, that’s a matter for the longer term."

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