Coral offer is a non-starter for racing

Outlook

Coral offer is a non-starter for racing (Getty)

Has Coral just blinked? Like most of the big bookies, it has so far refused to entertain paying to become an Authorised Betting Partner to the horse racing industry.

Those shunning the designation won’t be able to sponsor races at participating tracks, including Cheltenham and Aintree, when current deals expire. People using broadband at racecourses will only be able to use partner websites and there will be a marketing campaign in their favour.

But becoming an ABP is expensive. Bookies have to agree to cough up a levy on the profit they make from horseracing bets placed online as they are already required to do from bets placed in shops. Coral says, in a letter to the Racing Post, that it would be happy to pay 7.5 per cent on both its online and betting shop profits. But that is below the current 10.75 per cent it currently pays on betting shops (although it’s not far off what online ABPs pay). The racing industry, led by a former bookie in the form of British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust, has refused to countenance that.

But the letter isn’t aimed at the racing industry. It’s a PR move that’s partly for the consumption of the Government, which has promised new laws to close levy loopholes such as the online one. Laws can take a long time, and Coral might welcome extending the time.