UK bookmaker William Hill will replace long-term UK racing partner Dubai as the betting partner of choice for terrestrial coverage of UK Racing in a new four-year deal worth a reported $10m. The new partnership with ITV begins on New Year’s Day.
Watching horse racing without having a bet is like a one-eared blind man wearing a pair of chocolate sunglasses while riding through the desert on the back of a lame mule.
It’s utterly pointless.
As a former lover of a bet on the gee-gee’s it would bother the holy crap out of me if I couldn’t watch my racing live on the box. I was too tight to pay to watch Racing UK or At The Races, and listening to the action on the radio is like having sex without the orgasm.
So I was delighted at the turn of the year when ITV announced they had won a four-year contract to show the free-to-view UK racing coverage beating the current incumbents Channel 4 and those greedy so and so’s over at Sky.
It was a deal said to be worth £30m and quite a significant change. Channel 4 had been the UK Racing Boss since Hywel Davies rode the 50/1 outsider Last Suspect to victory in The Grand National.
William Hill Replace Dubai
The change of TV channel has also meant a shift in sponsorship. The primary sponsor for Channel 4 racing during the past decade has been Dubai. Their latest four-year deal ends in 2017, and they will not be renewing.
Instead, UK bookmaker William Hill will take over in a four-year deal said to be worth £10m. The deal includes naming rights around the entire scope of ITV’s racing coverage both on the main ITV channel and ITV4.
ITV will show 40-days of racing on the main ITV channel. ITV4 will take on the likes of Sandown’s Tingle Creek meeting, the Coral Welsh National and Cheltenham Trials Day.
William Hill is also the betting partner of choice for the English Premier League (EPL) sides Chelsea, Everton and Spurs, as well as sponsoring the Scottish national football team.
The new partnership with ITV begins on New Year’s Day.
