Betting ring the beneficiary as affordability checks and restrictions send punters back to the track

It has long been assumed that the days of punters and bookies exchanging vast sums of ready cash in the ring were all but consigned to the past, however increasingly evidence suggests that the on-course market may be an unexpected beneficiary of wider trends in betting.

This has the potential to feed into the bustling Cheltenham Festival betting ring, which so often is used as a measure of the health of the racing and betting industries and in the past has been the scene of epic battles between punters and bookmakers involving legendary characters like JP McManus and 'Fearless Freddie' Williams.

Having had their business recently battered by behind-closed-doors restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, on-course bookmakers have again become the layers of choice for an increasing number of bettors who have found their ability to gamble online or in betting shops thwarted by affordability checks and account restrictions.

Several on-course bookmakers have told the Racing Post they had been receiving notably larger bets from punters whose frustrations off course have resulted in them returning to the ring, be it in search of being able to get a bet on or to be able to do so at a better price.

“There’s definitely been larger bets in the betting ring in the last year,” said on-course bookmaker Peter Sutton. “Whether it’s down to just what’s going on with affordability and restrictions I don’t know because there would be better value in the ring. Since the SP has moved off track I’ve noticed it more because we could be 5-4 on track and the betting shops are even money or 11-10.

“There’s no set pattern [however]. I was at Taunton the other day and I took a £1,500 bet, a £500 each-way bet and a £500 win bet, but you could go to the same day next year and you’re taking £5 win bets or £2.50 each-way. It’s funny.”

For some bookmakers, this shift in behaviour has rekindled old relationships with punters who had stopped betting regularly on the racecourse to trade on exchanges, such as Betfair. Now they are coming back to the course because placing bets away from the track is becoming increasingly difficult for a growing number of bettors.

This has been supplemented by the emergence of new groups of large-staking punters – some connected to particular stables or owners and others who are comparing ring odds to off-course prices before striking their bets – who have entered the ring in recent months, often armed with sizeable sums of cash.

“There are a number of larger punters who appear occasionally which are almost certainly a result of the account restrictions bookmakers are putting on and partly affordability checks too,” says John Hooper, who bets under the Sid Hooper banner. “It’s not a flood of money coming into the ring or a vast number of people, but a few larger punters wanting to get their money on and knowing they can. 

“The Cheltenham Festival is always the bellwether for the year so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like. It’s always a great meeting to be betting at anyway, even if the results are harder now.”

On-course bookmakers believe their willingness to accept larger bets contrasts with the frustrating account restrictions many punters are burdened with when trying to gamble off course, contributing to a further uplift in trade.

“At the higher end of the market, there are groups of people going around having regular four-figure bets for the simple reason that they cannot have a bet off course,” Christopher Hudson, chairman of the British Racecourse Bookmakers Association, said.

“If you are a customer you know you can get a bet on and, particularly if you are looking to back something in the first two or three in the betting, you will often find the price on course is better than off course.”

Punters are seeking alternative avenues to bet as the sector undergoes upheaval caused by the introduction of affordability checks, combined with long-standing complaints about stakes being heavily restricted for those regularly beating SP or having winning accounts.

Requests for sensitive financial documents by off-course bookmakers, acting under pressure from betting regulator the Gambling Commission, continue as the prolonged wait goes on for the UK government to publish its white paper into the review of gambling laws.

It is widely expected some form of affordability checks will be included, but many checks are already in place and proving a deterrent to customers, who have either curtailed their betting or now bet elsewhere. A recent Racing Post survey revealed one in six punters had already been asked to provide financial documents, a figure which rose to more than 50 per cent among those regularly staking £500 or more.

Such actions have likely led punters to reassess where and how they place their bets, according to George Ryley, a member of the Horseracing Bettors Forum (HBF).

“The HBF view is that it’s really good to see a healthy on-course market which may well be down to the effects of the restrictions and intrusive checks imposed by the off-course bookmakers,” he said. “It’s certainly something that makes sense. 

“We do get a lot of correspondence from people who have had their accounts restricted and cannot put more than a few pence on a horse, which is very concerning for us. My own personal view is that the big companies are no longer bookmakers in the true sense of the word these days. 

“We’ve also had people complaining about not being able to withdraw winnings until they’ve supplied lots of personal information and we are worried that this will have a deterrent effect on people actually betting on horseracing. At the end of the day, it’s bettors who contribute to the sport via the levy.”

A vibrant on-course market may be the silver lining of the current travails for punters, but the betting ring has still suffered many blows in recent years.

A vibrant betting ring is important for racing, but the on-course market has taken quite a few knocks in recent yearsCredit: Edward Whitaker

Some on-course bookmakers estimate trade is down as much as 50 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels. Hudson says the damage is less severe, but acknowledges layers have been impacted by people reducing their spending due to the rising cost of living.

“It’s not as good as it was,” he said. “Straight after the pandemic it was very good and my speech to our AGM outlined how we thought 2022 would be a very good year and then Putin got up to his tricks. I’d say bets are down by about 20 per cent, but the amount bet is higher.”

Bookmakers also voiced concerns that racing was being marketed at “the drinking crowd” for bigger meetings and said that, generally, smaller fixtures were better for business, with Hudson outlining the view of on-course layers as “the higher the admission price, the worse [trade] is”.

The uplift in the betting ring and the willingness of punters to bet on course was viewed positively by Ryley, who expressed hope bettors would continue to enter the ring and have their bets laid by bookmakers.

“We view placing a bet with an on-course bookmaker as a unique part of the raceday experience, and generally value can be found in the ring and the bookmakers will lay you a decent bet,” he said. “We view bookmakers as the old enemy, but really they are our friends. 

“We mustn’t forget that not so long ago that during the Covid lockdowns these bookmakers lost their livelihoods overnight for months on end. The positive notes that we are hearing from the betting ring now have got to be good news for them and we hope the trend continues.”

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