William Hill to open betting facilities in six ARC tracks in the UK

William Hill to open betting facilities in six ARC tracks in the UK

UK bookmaker William Hill has announced plans to extend their relationship with the Arena Racing Company, by opening branded betting offices in six of their UK racecourses.

William Hill and the Arena Racing Company (ARC) have agreed to a partnership that will see the UK bookmaker open up branded betting facilities in six of the ARC’s 15 racecourses.

William Hill to open betting facilities in six ARC tracks in the UKWriters of the press release acted after the racehorse bolted from the starting gate with the Doncaster facilities having opened in June, Wolverhampton cutting the ribbon on 10 August, and Royal Windsor doing likewise on 13 August. Southwell opens on 20 August, with Lingfield Park and Worcester scheduled to repeat by the end of the summer.

The ARC is the largest UK racecourse owner in the UK, with 15 tracks. In July, the ARC’s television offshoot The Racing Partnership (TRP) ended their seven-month feud with Ladbrokes Coral and Betfred after reaching a deal to show racing from the 15 tracks within their stores. Ladbrokes Coral has 3,820, and Betfred adds another 1,688 to that figure.

William Hill, who are now the sponsors of Doncaster’s St Leger Festival, announced a fall in pre-tax profits from £122m to £109m YoY in their recent H1 2017 earnings call. A lack of major football tournament and positive results from the favourites in Premier League and horse racing took the brunt of the blame.

One area where William Hill courted an advantage over their competitors was in horse racing. Hill’s ability to broadcast racing from all ARC’s 15 tracks, while the likes of Ladbrokes Coral and Betfred were in the dark saw sports wagers placed at Hills rising 2% to £1.2bn in the period compared to a 7% dip in over the counter bets placed at Ladbrokes Coral.

Racing at the 15 courses accounts for 39% of all UK racing.

ARC was born out of the Arena Leisure and Northern Racing merger of 2012.