The Tote's time has arrived at last

Not only is the Cheltenham Festival the biggest celebration of jump racing in the world, it is also widely regarded as the UK’s ultimate betting event. In terms of betting turnover, only the Grand National and the Derby prevent Cheltenham Festival races from occupying every place in the top ten highest betting races of the year.

Of course, on every level Cheltenham is a hugely important time for racing and for owners. We know that a Festival winner represents the ultimate goal for many owners but also that Cheltenham, probably more than any other racing occasion, illustrates the symbiotic relationship between racing
betting.

This interdependence makes it a very exciting time for all of us who have a vested interest in the future of pool betting in this country. Under its relatively new management and structure, the Tote will be facing its most earnest test to date when the great Cheltenham roar heralds the start of the
meeting on March 10.

The UK Tote Group is a company funded by over 160 different shareholders, united in their love of horseracing and committed to providing a uniquely enjoyable, engaging and valuable betting experience.

It is heartening that the company is now unequivocal in its ambitions. No more is it trying to be a bookmaker with a pool betting arm; no longer will it take bets at SP and no longer will it offer betting on a range of other sports as well as racing. At last, the Tote will be what it was always supposed
to be – a pool betting operation for horseracing, pure and simple.

This means the perception that UK and Irish punters are largely wedded only to fixed odds betting is going to be tested to the full. It means that when punters are offered something that is of clearly better value to them, we will know, over time, whether that is going to change their betting
habits.

For one of several bold initiatives now being rolled out by the Tote is a guarantee on all online win bets that punters will be paid out on either the win dividend or the SP, whichever is higher. The Tote describes this as a “game changer” and you can see why. Backing outsiders on the Tote has always
tended to pay much better, but this clever if brave initiative will provide punters with the best of all worlds and will surely attract plenty of new business.

Despite the many thousands of punters at Cheltenham racecourse in March, most betting will be off-course, in shops and online. The Tote will continue to offer pool bets through shops, while its new website is now set up to carry much-increased traffic. Reflecting the simplicity of its new
operation, the website is now much the better for dealing purely with pool bets – just seven in all, including the time honoured Placepot, for which it is estimated pools will top £1 million on each of Cheltenham’s four days.

However, the Tote must not be seen purely as a vehicle for lottery-style bets with big pay-outs for small stakes. As we have seen overseas, bets such as the exacta and trifecta can entice the shrewdest of bettors and there is no reason why, with the right sort of marketing, these bets will not become part of the UK’s regular betting profile.

Some of us have cherished a long-held belief that the Tote’s time would come when the great majority of those who bet on horses were part of the button-pushing generation and when information technology allowed everyone in the free world to share in common activities. The fact that we have now reached that stage was amply illustrated at Royal Ascot last summer, when we saw the potential possessed by the worldwide co-mingling of pools.

We must hope the Cheltenham Festival will show the day of the Tote has well and truly arrived.