Is the Tote losing its grip?

Now for something Tote-ally different

The Telegraph brought us an exclusive scoop this week as it revealed British racecourses are in talks to replace their current on-track pool betting operator, the Tote.

According to the article, groups representing the UK’s biggest racecourses have been approached by secretive Australian businessman and “the world’s biggest gambler” Zeljko Ranogajec to discuss replacing the old guard of pari-mutuel, on-track betting.

As well as being a major gambler himself, Ranogajec is the founder of Colossus Bets, which was set up in 2013 and is now reportedly in pole position to take over the job from the Tote.

In order to do so, however, the operator will need to convince the likes of the Jockey Club and the Arena Racing Company, which together own 31 of the UK’s racecourses, as well as the 28 remaining independent courses, including the likes of Ascot, Goodwood and Newbury.

The above racecourse operators are said to be in talks about Colossus’ offer, and “while some racecourses are thought to be more tempted than others to accept, it is understood they will come to a collective decision and move as one,” the article reports.

The change would not be taken lightly, with the Tote boasting a nearly hundred-year history since being introduced via Winston Churchill’s 1928 Racecourse Betting Act, in a bid to combat the growth in illegal betting at the time.

The brand was run by the government up until 2011, when it was privatised and sold to Betfred for ￡265m. Betfred subsequently sold the on-course business for ￡115m to the now-called The Tote Group.

So after a tumultuous few years and plenty of change at the top, perhaps the time has come for the Tote to lose its grip on British on-track pool betting.

If this article is anything to go by, there might just be a new Colossus in town.

Sports funding? It’s a lottery

Elsewhere, The Guardian took a sideways glance at the often-controversial intersection between the gambling industry and professional sports.

In this particular case, chief sports writer Barney Ronay took aim at links between the UK’s National Lottery and Great Britain’s Olypmic team.

The article takes a slightly nostalgic trip down memory lane to the very first days of the National Lottery, following its introduction almost 30 years ago.

Fast forward to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and Team GB athletes provided the author with what he describes as the “nauseating sight” of them “routinely giving a shout out to ‘all the lottery players back home’”.

For Ronay, this amounts quite simply to “essentially thanking losing gamblers, scratchcard addicts and the poor for buying them a canoe.”

While the piece expresses significant discomfort with the intersection of sports and gambling, it does recognise the positive impact lottery funding has had on Britain’s Olympic hopefuls in recent decades.

“UK Sport does also receive government money but the lottery funding is utterly key, as evidenced by the gold medal count of the past 30 years,” Ronay writes.

“Rightly so. Athletes should be funded properly. The question is: should they be funded by gambling?”

In answer to his own question, the author also rejects a popular belief that lotteries are not, at least not exactly, the same as the rest of the gambling sector.

“No matter how many times it uses the word “play” on its website, the lottery is a state casino that rests entirely on luring you into gambling,” he suggests.

So, if that is the case, is it acceptable for athletes to take on the funding and publicly thank the lottery for it in return?

This author, at least, seems to think not.

Brazil bets

Finally, Yahoo Finance brought us a report from the burgeoning Brazilian market, where it suggests the proliferation of online gambling is having a negative impact on other consumer spending.

The upcoming regulation of Brazil’s online gambling market “may boost state coffers but also threatens to divert funds from consumer spending in other areas,” the piece suggests.

As evidence, the article points out that Brazil has seen lower-than-expected growth in consumer spending in recent months, “a weakness some banks and think tanks are blaming on gambling.”

“Such a linkage would echo data seen in some US states touched by online gambling fever,” it adds.

In contrast, however, those within the industry seem to think the drop in consumer spending growth has been driven by other factors.

Brazilian gambling lawyer Luiz Felipe Maia, for example, is quoted in the article saying “the retail sector is using gambling as a scapegoat” for its lukewarm growth.

The numbers, however, tell their own story. Family spending on gambling in Brazil doubled from 2018 to 1.9% this year, it says, while the proportion of entertainment budgets being spend on gambling has shot up from 10% to 38% over the same period.

The growing availability of online gambling is thought to have contributed to this shift, which some are now suggesting is a net negative for the Brazilian economy.

“This money would normally go to the neighborhood shopkeeper and boost the economy from the bottom up,” said Renato Meirelles, head of research centre Locomativa Institute.

“Now it is being eaten up by the bets instead of going into the real economy.”

The true impact of a regulated gambling market on Brazil’s economy, of course, remains to be seen, with the licensed market not set to launch until January 2025.

Only then, and in the years that follow, will we truly see how gambling impacts Brazilian spending.

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