Press Release

Tote and Chester Race Company agree partnership

Wednesday 18th December, 2019

The UK Tote Group and Chester Race Company have today announced a four-year partnership which will see the Tote return to Chester Racecourse in 2020 to supplement the existing on-course betting provision from Chester Bet and take up sponsorship of the historic Chester Cup as part of an exclusive Boodles May Festival betting partnership.

As the UK’s leading pool betting operator, the Tote will also return to Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse and from February will become the exclusive pool betting solution, replacing Bangor Bet, whilst the Bangor Sport Betting Shop will remain in situ.

The agreement with Chester Race Company will see the Tote become the on-course betting partner
at Chester and Bangor-on-Dee Racecourses, with the new Tote brand featuring prominently
across both sites.

As part of an improved service, Chester Racecourse will continue to deliver the existing range of Win, Place, Forecast & Tricast bets via Chester Bet, alongside a new range of bets including the Placepot, Quadpot and Scoop 6, facilitated by the Tote.

The Tote will return to sponsoring the Chester Cup in 2020. This is the feature race of the final day of the Boodles May Festival and will have a prize fund of £154,000 making it the most lucrative race run at Chester Racecourse. This historic race which started in 1824 and was initially known as the Tradesman’s Cup, was last sponsored by the Tote between 1996 and 2011, during which time the Roodee turf celebrated triumphant wins from Rainbow High, Anak Pekan and Bulwark.

The Tote will also sponsor further races at the Boodles May Festival, including a race on the opening day; City Day, the feature Ormonde Stakes on Ladies Day and the Chester Plate, alongside the Chester Cup, on the final day of the Festival, Chester Cup Day. In addition, the Tote have committed to supporting supplementary races throughout the season on the following days: Saturday 23rd May – Roman Day; Saturday 25th July – Midsummer Meeting; Saturday 12th September – Autumn Festival and Saturday 26th September - Season Finale.

The Tote will also sponsor races across five days throughout 2020 at Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse, commencing on Friday 7th February at the Heritage Day meeting.

Alex Frost, Chief Executive of UK Tote Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with Chester Race Company to ensure pool betting is once again available to the quarter of a million people who visit Chester and Bangor-on-Dee racecourses every year. I would like to thank Richard and his team for the forward-thinking and dynamic way that they have approached our new partnership. We look forward to once again seeing the Tote sponsoring the historic Chester Cup and further developing the ways in which the Tote can support and promote racing at Chester and Bangor-on-Dee Racecourses.”

Richard Thomas, Chief Executive of Chester Race Company, said: “We are excited to have agreed this innovative partnership with the UK Tote Group. Our priority is to provide racegoers the very best experience when visiting our racecourses and the return of the Tote on-course ensures our customers will benefit from an efficient and varied betting experience, delivered via a newly enhanced service.”

ENDS.

For further information, please contact:

Susannah Gill
Communications and Corporate Affairs Director
UK Tote Group
susannah.gill@uktotegroup.com
07751 870 929

Stephanie Hughes
Head of Marketing
Chester Race Company
shughes@chester-race.com
07885 457 424

Notes to Editors

About UK TOTE GROUP

UK Tote Group is the proud owner and steward of the Tote, the UK’s leading pool betting operator.

The Tote has been a core part of British horseracing since 1928 when it was established by Parliament under Winston Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to provide the public with a safe way to bet and vital funding for the sport.

UK Tote Group is committed to fulfilling Churchill’s founding mission through a revitalised Tote which provides better value and an improved experience to customers, as well as increased funding to British horseracing. 

The 90-year-old British company is backed by racehorse owners and breeders from around the world and has an exclusive partnership with 55 British racecourses to provide pool betting services to the six million people who attend race meetings in Great Britain every year.

The Tote employs 90 people who are based in the Tote’s main office in Wigan and a satellite office in London.

For more information about the UK Tote Group please visit www.uktotegroup.com and follow us @UKToteGroup and @ToteRacing.

About Chester Race Company

Chester Race Company Ltd is a dynamic, constantly evolving organisation with an ever-expanding portfolio. The Company owners two existing racecourses (Chester and Bangor-on-Dee), an on-course hotel – the Holiday Inn Express, two on-site restaurants; 1539 Restaurant & Bar and The White Horse, in addition to the vibrant Chester city-centre bar; Commonhall Social. Chester Race Company also operates its own provision of on-course catering via its Horseradish brand; delivering year-round events, race meeting and conference and banqueting at Banger-On-Dee and Chester Racecourses, Chester Town Hall, Liverpool Cathedral and numerous affiliate venues, as well as bespoke events throughout the North-West and further afield.

Established in 1539, Chester Racecourse this year celebrates 480 years if racing on the Roodee. The racecourse is now officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Oldest Racecourse in the world, still in operation.

Chester is in fact a 365 days’ a year operation, attracting over 330,000 visitors annually at raceday fixtures and non-raceday events. Recognised as a leader in its field, Chester Racecourse consistently pushes boundaries to ensure the racecourse product delivers the optimum experience and opportunities for visiting horsemen and the general public. The racecourse has consistently been awarded the Gold Standard Award by the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA), since the awards inception in 2008 and was awarded the prestigious title of Large Racecourse of the Year Award, when it was launched in 2015 and again in 2018. Comparably, Bangor-on-Dee was for the first time awarded Small Racecourse of the Year in 2018 (having first shared the accolade in 2017 with Musselburgh), in addition to Gold Standard status for the second year running.

A recent Economic Impact Study reported that Chester Racecourse Company generates £54.1 million of expenditures per annum in the local economy and supports some 974 gross Full Times Equivalent jobs; 24% of employment in the recreation sector alone.

For more information about Chester Race Company, visit www.chester-races.com and follow social media channels via @ChesterRaces.