Britbet looking forward to Aintree following record turnover at the Cheltenham Festival

The team at Britbet, the racecourse-owned operator which provides on-track pool betting, is looking forward to Aintree after enjoying a record-breaking Cheltenham Festival.

In total £11.34 million was bet into the Tote pools from Cheltenham during the festival, a new high and an increase of around £600,000 on the previous year, despite the near five per cent fall in attendance over the four days.

Turnover was boosted in comparison with 2024 thanks to the Cross Country Chase taking place having been abandoned last year, while average field sizes also increased following changes to the race programme.

Britbet is a partnership owned by 55 British racecourses and was formed in 2018 to help provide an on-course betting service. It has an agreement with the UK Tote Group through which it acts as an agent, delivering racegoers' bets into the pools to be commingled with bets from the Tote’s off-course operations.

Managing director Nigel Roddis said of the festival: "It was a very positive week for Britbet and the Tote on course. I hope that racegoers enjoyed themselves and appreciated the service they received.

"We had some notable wins through the week, the most high profile being a £55,000 return from a £5 Placepot bet. Our Lucky Pick wallets also delivered once again, with two racegoers on the Tuesday picking up £16,000."

Britbet had an average of 467 team members taking bets each day who sold more than 570,000 bets across the week.

Roddis said the investment Britbet's racecourse partners had made in staff, product development, technology and hardware had been rewarded.

"They want racegoers to receive an excellent level of service and weeks like the festival provide tangible evidence that we are delivering on that request,” Roddis said.

He added: "Racegoers attending the Grand National meeting will be well served by the Tote on-course offering. The big fields over the National fences will hopefully help to deliver some headline Placepot wins. But I hope that those attending also take advantage of the race by race value we provide."

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