UK Tote Group launches Superpool for all 36 races at Royal Ascot

Superpools will be available on all 36 races at Royal Ascot next week, with the Tote hoping that money bet from across the world will help provide better value for customers.

However, punters playing the Placepot will have to deal with the bet paying to three places in every race in order to align with international operators betting into the pool, rather than four in handicaps with 16 runners or more.

The Tote superpools follow on from the World Pool that ran at the royal meeting last year and will offer pools that are combined with those from Hong Kong and other leading racing nations.

The aim of the World Pool was to create a more robust market people could bet into without fear of a big wager creating a huge price drop.

Last year money invested into all the pools run at the royal meeting totalled £92 million compared to £17m in 2018, an increase of 440 per cent, although this year's pools will not benefit from money bet on course.

The World Pool operated on a limited number of bets, including the win pool for 24 of the 30 races, at last year's meeting. The system was not able to deal with races with more than 24 runners.

Limits on field sizes next week mean that the enhanced pools will be available for every race at Ascot.

However, place terms limited to the first three will apply to place bets, the Placepot, Quadpot and Scoop6 for Royal Ascot only.

Alex Frost (left): Promise of 'huge liquidity' in Ascot poolsCredit: Edward Whitaker

UK Tote Group chief executive Alex Frost said: "We are very excited to once again be working with our partners at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Ascot racecourse to create a Tote Superpool for customers of the Tote to bet into throughout Royal Ascot.

"I would like to thank everyone involved for their continued efforts to deepen the integration between us to the mutual benefit of both racing nations. Last year proved that pool betting operators can successfully work together to increase the appeal of betting on British racing.

"This year promises to once again bring huge liquidity into the pools, which combined with the Tote Guarantee ensures the Tote really is the best place to bet for Royal Ascot. We look forward to introducing more Tote superpools for other leading British race meetings in future."

Hong Kong Jockey Club executive director Richard Cheung said Royal Ascot was a popular meeting there.

He said: "We are very proud of our partnership with the UK Tote and Ascot racecourse again this year. We look forward to continuing to work together with our partners to expand pool betting opportunities on other global racing events."

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