British racing cannot afford to miss the boat again when it comes to the Tote

The UK Tote was created in 1928 by Winston Churchill, a member of the Jockey Club, as the first licensed form of off-course betting in Britain. It was created with a specific mission to support British horseracing, but has never been owned or run by the sport. Its mission was lost when it was sold to privately owned UK fixed-odds operator Betfred in 2011.

Every few years, going back to the early 1960s, racing has had opportunities to bring the Tote closer to the racing fold, but has always been thwarted. Another opportunity may arise in the next couple of years – will it be grasped?

In the early years of this century, agreement in principle was reached with the government for ownership to be transferred to the sport, but this was successfully challenged by the bookmakers and eventually became a victim of the financial crash when it was nationalised by the Tories in 2011 and sold to Betfred.