Arrival of Tote Guarantee set to be a big boost for punters

A 'Tote Guarantee' that all win dividends will at least match starting prices will be in place in good time for the Cheltenham Festival.

News of the bold initiative from the new owners of the UK Tote Group will be greeted as a further boost to horseracing bettors, who some say have never had it so good.

Tote dividends have often bettered the starting price of longer-priced winners, and it is claimed that last year dividends on winners starting at 12-1 or more were better on the Tote 66 per cent of the time.

However, the stats do not stack up so favourably for shorter-priced winners and this is believed to hold many punters back from betting with the Tote.

In what might be regarded as a soft launch, the Tote Guarantee is already available to customers on tote.co.uk and was trialled on the racecourse at Wolverhampton last week.

Described as "a game changer" by chief marketing officer Rob Painter in one report over the weekend, it is the first of a series of initiatives in the pipeline from the consortium who bought the Tote from bookmaker Betfred for £115 million last autumn.

It is due to be rolled out in full in the weeks leading up to the Cheltenham Festival, along with plans for giving the Placepot a much needed shot in the arm.

Director of communications and corporate affairs, Susannah Gill, was unable to provide further detail while testing is still ongoing but said on Sunday it is "massively exciting to have people talking about the Tote again", adding "there will be a lot more to come".

Susannah Gill: 'A lot more to come'

Simon Clare, PR director of Ladbrokes Coral, said: "This is more evidence that the battle for the horseracing punter is as fierce and competitive as ever, and a reminder of what a great time it is for anyone betting on UK and Irish horseracing given the choice and value on offer every day.

"Coral recently launched its biggest ever jump racing offer, 'Fail to Finish', giving money back as a free bet on every horse that doesn’t finish in jump races at one meeting each day, and it has gone down a storm in what is a critical period for bookmakers as we build up to Cheltenham and the Grand National, the two biggest racing events in the calendar. It’s undoubtedly a very good time to be a racing bettor."

Read this next

In-running punters: the enemy of the people or just nosy neighbours?(£)

Relationship between football and gambling set to be subject of intense debate(£)

Members can read the latest exclusive interviews, news analysis and comment available from 6pm daily on racingpost.com