Milestone reached in pool-betting deal but many questions still to be answered

They took it almost to the wire but at last Britbet, the Tote and their partners Alizeti have put pen to paper and agreed to work together to invigorate pool betting on British racing rather than against each other.

That's good news for the sport because it averts the disastrous scenario of what is often an already weak pool being further diluted by two opposing operators and all-important liquidity being lost.

However, while it is an important milestone towards making the Tote a vibrant part of the betting landscape there are plenty of steps still to be taken and questions to be answered.