Irish racecourse manager calls on courses to put energy into attracting racegoers to combat declining betting trend

Gowran Park and Wexford manager Eddie Scally believes tracks need to return to basics and put their primary focus on attracting racegoers to arrest the decline in revenue as a result of falling betting turnover.

The financial crisis facing British racing was revealed last month when figures indicated a £3 billion (25 per cent) fall in online betting turnover on the sport in real terms over the last two years. A similar decline in Ireland would result in racetracks being hit hard as each venue's media rights payments are largely determined on betting turnover for individual fixtures.

In June 2023, Racing TV secured the rights to broadcast from all Irish racecourses until 2029 at the earliest in a €47 million-a-year deal, and the new performance-based terms were a departure from the previous deal which provided for a flat sum per race for tracks.