Tote cans sponsorship; Loto-Québec figures disappoint

Totesport

TotesportTotesport’s sponsorship of the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) colours is to come to an end this month as the ROA takes over the scheme. It’s the first act that Fred Done has carried out since his company took over the Tote from government hands. It means that a ROA sponsor’s patch will replace Totesport on all colours and also the collar of owners’ silks. Charlie Brooks wrote in the Telegraph that the owners’ ability to reclaim around £66million of VAT every year on the cost of having horses in training will be jeopardized under a deal agreed with HM Customs and Excise.

Loto-Québec saw a drop in revenues for the first quarter of the year and that was despite an influx of money from their online venture. A 4% drop saw gambling industry revenue drop from $916.8million last year to just $882.3m. That was despite their being an extra $4.5million in revenue from the espacejeux.com site that launched back in December. In a statement, CEO Alain Cousineau, said, “In general, the first quarter results are consistent with our expectations.”

Breaking it down even further, the provider’s bingo games were the only place to see growth in revenue after it jumped 5.6% to $8m thanks to the introduction of new games. Lottery revenues were down 5.1% to $427.7m, casino revenue dropped 4.6% to $207.4m. Video lottery terminals also saw a drop from $250.1m to $242.8m although that could have been down to there being an extra day in the fiscal first quarter in 2010.