At The Races & Tote Ireland Agree New Comingling Agreement Tote Ireland To Benefit From Significant New International RevenuesAt The Races (ATR), the UK and Ireland's most watched dedicated horse racing channel, and Tote Ireland (Tote) are delighted to announce they have agreed a comingling agreement which will enable international customers to bet directly into Irish racing pools operated by Tote Ireland. From now on viewers of ATR's international channel, At The Races International, which broadcasts UK and Irish racing to over 20 countries, will provide a pool betting option to overseas viewers of Irish racing in betting outlets in Holland, Germany, Spain, Russia and North America. Overseas punters will now be able to place bets on Irish racing directly into the Tote Ireland pools, increasing their size, offering greater liquidity to Tote Ireland punters and increasing the attractiveness of Tote betting to punters. In order to pursue its strategy of integrating with international Totes and third party partners, Tote Ireland will revert to a single retention rate for all win betting, in line with international practice. On course UK punters will also benefit from this increased liquidity as they have been able to bet into the Irish pools via the UK Tote since 2001. Since March 2005, ATR has had a successful agreement in place with the UK Tote to commingle which has seen over #10 million delivered back into domestic on-course Tote pools. ATR is confident that other countries will take the international service in the near future, further increasing the distribution network for top quality Irish and UK racing. Nigel Roddis, International Director, ATR said: 'This is an important agreement, further strengthening our ties with Irish racing. One of the principal aims of the channel is to increase the profile and revenue opportunities for our racecourse partners. The international market is increasingly important to the Irish and UK racing industries and agreements like this only serve to grow the popularity of the sport in those markets.' Alexis Murphy Chief Executive, Tote Ireland, commented: 'Irish racing is respected around the world and international customers are now able to experience this at first hand through ATR's coverage. Irish racing will benefit not only from the increased exposure but financially through the commission Tote Ireland will receive on each bet placed through the pools. The increased liquidity will also further increase the attractiveness of our pools to punters.'
