Courses team up with Colossus Bets to 'transform' pool betting

The pool betting project being put together by the majority of Britain's racecourses has teamed up with Colossus Bets in a move it claims will help "transform" pool betting on British racing.

The project's steering board, which represents 54 courses, said signing up Colossus Bets as its technology partner meant its customers would have access to new exotic bets, cash-out and six and seven-figure minimum guaranteed prize pools.

Betfred's exclusive licence to offer pool betting on British racing expires next summer and most of Britain's courses have come together to offer a rival service, although doubts have been raised about the liquidity that could be offered under such circumstances.

In addition, Ascot - which announced its own operation Ascotbet in partnership with Betfred in April - and Chester, which will offer pool betting through its existing in-house betting operation, are not part of the racecourse project.

The range of bets being offered, which has yet to be finalised, will be owned by the 54 tracks signed up to the project but delivered using Colossus Bets' technology.

The bets, the tracks involved said, will be available on course, via a remote betting platform to be offered by the racecourse consortium and through third-party betting operators including Colossus Bets and their existing partner operators.

Project managing director Nigel Roddis said: "This arrangement gives us access to the most advanced and flexible pool betting platform available, so I am delighted we have been able to partner with Colossus Bets.

"Innovation is a key aim as we want to offer customers an improved service and ensure pool betting is at the heart of the bets available on racing. We think that the opportunities provided by this initiative will go a long way towards us achieving that goal."

Roddis said he was excited by the opportunities offered by access to the 'Syndicates' platform provided by Colossus Bets which would allow crowdfunding of tickets into racing pools.

He added: "Syndicates will allow punters to very publicly advertise their opinions and to encourage others to join in their bets. Syndicate tickets could be created by a recognised pundit, racing personality or just a regular punter. It will be exciting and fun and should provide our racing TV channels with compelling content.

"I’m also convinced pool betting and cash out opportunities are made for each other. Many of us can point to times when we have been four or five legs in only to have the final leg let us down.

"We will provide customers with an opportunity to decide whether to take that final-leg risk or bank some profits early. It will add to the drama and provide outlets for discussion on social media and more traditional media channels."

Colossus Bets were launched in 2013, initially concentrating on football.

Chief operating officer David O’Reilly said: "Pool betting on horseracing is a sleeping giant and we look forward to working with British racing to bring cutting edge features and technology to racing punters, with life-changing prize pools."