By Emma Berry
From its launch in 2019, covering the five days of Royal Ascot, the World Pool has grown gradually to 33 race days this year across eight different countries. It is fair to expect to see that expansion continue apace.
The international commingling of betting pools was the brainchild of Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which powers World Pool. Twenty-eight jurisdictions can now bet into that pool.
“It is our vision to bring the world's finest racing to domestic customers all year round,” states the World Pool website, but it is not just punters who are benefiting from this increased liquidity in the betting pools. The racecourses included in the World Pool programme, which this year has covered fixtures in Australia, Argentina, Britain, Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE, stand to gain around £500,000 in extra funding per race day.
At the Asian Racing Conference, held a fortnight ago in Sapporo, Michael Fitzsimons, executive director of wagering products at the HKJC, outlined how further expansion of World Pool could help to combat the threat to racing's future from the rapid growth of illegal betting markets. He drew a comparison with the collaborative efforts within the music business which have been deployed in the battle against piracy.
Fitzsimons said, “As with the music industry, we must innovate together in a manner more compelling than the illegal alternative. To do this, our goal is for World Pool to provide coverage of the IFHA's top 100 races.
“To meet the challenge of the illegal market, we can't and won't stop until we too have a convenient product with all the world's best races in one place, available to a global audience, through the national pool operators in every country.”
European Involvement
British racing – or a section of it – is currently one of the main beneficiaries of World Pool with 18 of the 33 race days this year staged in the country, at Ascot, Epsom, Goodwood, Newmarket and York. Seventeen of the IFHA's top 100 races were run in Britain last year, according to the Longines rankings, while Ireland had three on that list and hosts four World Pool days. France does not yet have World Pool fixtures but Germany's Grosser Preis von Baden card was included in 2023 and there are now six German meetings on the schedule. With World Pool having grown from 27 to 33 race days in the last year, there is speculation that it could double in number before long.
Horse Racing Ireland's CEO Suzanne Eade said during a panel discussion at the ARC, “World Pool makes our good days great days.”
Its presence will be felt this weekend in particular, with both days of the Irish Champions Festival included, while the sole remaining fixture in the UK this season is British Champions Day at Ascot next month. The appearance of Japanese contender Shin Emperor (Fr) in the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday will surely only reinforce the desire from the HKJC to encourage the Japan Racing Association (JRA) to get on board with World Pool.
“If the Japanese were to amalgamate with the global pools it would increase fivefold,” said Alex Frost, CEO of the UK Tote Group, who was also in attendance at the ARC and described the expansion of the World Pool to date as “breathtaking”.
Racing's Silver Bullet?
That gathering of racing's leaders included a debate on the relative strength or otherwise of the world's betting markets, along with the looming spectre of the aforementioned competition from the illegal markets, which are believed to be worth an estimated US$1.7 trillion.
Peter V'Landys, the CEO of Australia's Racing New South Wales, joined the panel with Eade and was unequivocal in his view of World Pool.
He said, “I think it has the potential to save world racing because it really highlights the major events in every country, it puts the focus on that event and punters from all around the world can bet on that particular race.”
Frost was particularly encouraged by his comments.
“There is a silver bullet for global horse racing and that is tote betting done properly,” he said. “That's the most powerful message that I took out of the conference – that there is a solution.”
He continued, “People have been living off steady growth but suddenly there is a bit of a wobble. Betting turnover is down in Hong Kong and Australia and everyone is suffering from a bit of a pull back other than the JRA. I sense that people are really concerned, and when you get the likes of Peter V'Landys standing up and saying there is only one solution, and Japan showing that you need a proper level of reinvestment in the racing product, I felt very invigorated by that.”
He also is of the view that Britain is well positioned to benefit further from any expansion.
“When you consider our level of reputation and integrity, and the time zone we are in, it is perfect for Asia,” he said. “It is more of a challenge in America.”
York's Prize-Money Boost
William Derby is the chief executive and clerk of the course at York racecourse, a shining beacon among tracks in the UK. Its recent Ebor meeting featured 28 races across four days, none of which offered less than £100,000 in prize-money. York's rising purses have been aided by the returns from its three World Pool days.
“We're delighted to have been involved since the second wave, alongside Goodwood, in 2021,” said Derby. “That global approach is really appealing to us as a racecourse, and having people engaging in betting on our festival racing is something that we really want to encourage.
“The York Race Committee took the view that we would invest all that we received in World Pool returns and put that all back into the prize funds. So our prize funds since 2019, which was our last proper Ebor without World Pool, have gone up by what we receive from World Pool. We would love for the Saturday of the Ebor Festival to be a World Pool day as we feel that the Ebor, the Melrose, the Strensall and the City of York Stakes would be really engaging content.”
And in a trickledown effect, those big days at York now help to shore up some of the lesser meetings during the year.
Derby added, “It has boosted the strength of our entire race programme, not just World Pool days. No race at York is worth less than £20,000 and all grades of racing have benefited, so the sport has benefited as whole, and everyone connected to it – be they owners, trainers or jockeys.”
Along with the racecourses receiving a financial boost from World Pool fixtures there is value to be found for punters too. The Racing Post's betting expert Tom Segal referred to the benefits in his column this week.
He said, “I invariably find that the horses I'm interested in start at much bigger prices on the World Pool than they do with the traditional bookmakers or on the exchanges, given that the majority of them aren't ridden by William Buick or Ryan Moore and aren't trained by the Gosdens or Aidan O'Brien.
“Of course World Pool betting isn't going to suit everyone, with its each-way terms sometimes not that favourable. But the sizeable group of punters who like a medium-sized win bet should certainly consider the World Pool when having a wager at the big meetings.”
Unsurprisingly, this is a view which is wholly endorsed by Frost.
“I would like people to really get behind it now,” he said. “There are lots of people who like a bet in the UK and Ireland. We've gone beyond the stage of proving the concept. It has shown that it can help enormously, and if we are going to see the roll-out that was talked about at the Asian Racing Conference then we need to be doing everything we can to get behind it.”
He continued, “That's the one thing that I would like to impress upon people, that there is a solution. And if people don't believe that the world is moving fast, it's pretty remarkable to have the next [Asian Racing] conference in Saudi. That in itself is a message. To think that wagering is going to be discussed openly in Saudi – who would have thought that even two or three years ago? It's a definite barometer of change.”
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