Online betting operator BetVictor has usurped two rivals in high profile fashion at the Cheltenham racecourse.
On Wednesday, BetVictor announced it had signed a three-year deal to affix its name to the Gold Cup feature race at Cheltenham’s The Open meeting in November. BetVictor replaces Irish bookies Paddy Power, who had sponsored the Gold Cup since 2003 but, unlike BetVictor, have yet to sign up for UK racing’s controversial Authorized Betting Partner (ABP) scheme.
As of Jan. 1, major UK racecourses like Cheltenham refused to renew or sign new sponsorship deals with any bookmaker that had yet to earn the ABP designation, which confirms that the bookie has agreed to kick back an appropriate share of its online UK race betting revenue to racing.
The ABP scheme is somewhat redundant now that the UK government has confirmed it will introduce a new race betting right, which will extend the mandatory 10.75% levy on land-based race betting revenue to all racing wagers. But the new right won’t kick in until April 2017 and, until that day arrives, racing has decided to continue to hold non-ABP bookies’ feet to the fire.
BetVictor’s Cheltenham presence will include sponsorship of the Channel 4 blimp providing television coverage of next week’s Cheltenham Festival. BetVictor will also immediately take over operation of Ladbrokes’ former betting shop in the Sovereign Bay area of Cheltenham’s main grandstand. Lads announced last month that it wouldn’t be manning its two Cheltenham shops this year after losing its World Hurdle sponsorship to Ryanair over the ABP squabble.
BRAND REFRESH
The Gibraltar-based BetVictor recently rolled out a slightly tweaked logo (pictured) and a revamped website in a bid to eliminate any cobwebs customers might have perceived on the old designs.
Head of brand Shane Stafford, who joined the firm at the start of the year following a stint as Paddy Power’s creative director, said the new logo was the “natural starting point” of the brand refresh, “simplifying it for a cleaner, more functional, clearly legible lockup.”
The tweaks to BetVictor’s interface put the emphasis on the functional, for example, removing gradients to improve application load times. A number of additional in-house product developments are set to be unveiled, the intent of which Stafford said was to strip away “any information that distracts from the overall customer experience.”
