William Hill to open betting shops at six Arc tracks

William Hill are taking over racecourse betting shops formerly run by Ladbrokes at six Arena Racing Company (Arc) tracks.

Racegoers at the courses concerned were left without betting shop facilities from January when the stand-off between the Ladbrokes Coral group and Arc over new betting shop channel The Racing Partnership (TRP), in which Arc is the prime mover, escalated.

Ladbrokes Coral and TRP agreed a deal in July but by that time it is understood that talks with Hills to take over all six shops were well advanced, although an agreement had not been reached at that point.

Doncaster, where William Hill are set to sponsor the St Leger for the first time next month, is one of the courses to house Hills-owned facilities, having reopened in June.

Last week shops opened at Wolverhampton and Windsor, while Southwell's will open this Sunday.

Lingfield and Worcester will also have facilities as part of the partnership, and the aim is for them to be open by the end of the month.

The openings have been staggered due to the process of getting the facilities licensed by the Gambling Commission.

Arc's director of operations Mark Spincer said: "We're really pleased to have been able to work with William Hill to ensure all these betting facilities will be open in the coming weeks.

"As a leading betting operator, and key sponsor partner of Arc, William Hill’s facilities are well placed to meet all customers' needs and thrive in the years ahead."

The agreement between Arc and Hills is the latest commercial deal between the two operators.

Apart from sponsorship of the St Leger, Hills agreed a long-term media rights deal with TRP in December 2016.

Then in May Arc bought the greyhound tracks at Newcastle and Sunderland from Hills.

The bookmaker's divisional director for the northern region Steven White said: "The William Hill facilities at Doncaster are already proving popular so we're excited about extending our presence to the on-course betting facilities at six of Arc's racecourses."