Supplier News
Brazil – Brazilian and Uruguayan Jockey Clubs sign historic agreement
By Phil - 27 May 2015
The Rio Grande do Sul Jockey Club in Brazil has announced the launch of a totalising system that allows the simultaneous transmission of horse racing in Brazil and Uruguay with real-time interaction.
The new system will allow customers to bet into one common betting system from either Uruguay or Brazil. The new system will link betting from races taking place in the Cristal Race Course in Porto Alegre, Brazil and with those from the Maroñas and Las Piedras racetracks in Uruguay.
The initiative marks an important moment in the Latin American horse racing industry as for the first time in history two gaming markets in Latin America will be integrated through a totalizing system which places both tracks in Uruguay and the Cristal Race Course into a single system of pari-mutuel simulcasting.
The President of the Jockey Club of Rio Grande do Sul, José Vecchio told press that the move follows the global trend of simulcasting races and that in the long term the club hopes to incorporate races from its tracks into the international market. Meanwhile, André Gelfi CEO of Codere Brazil said that the launch follows international standards in place by the global industry and that bets can be taken over the telephone, over the internet and via off track betting shops.
In Brazil horseracing is run by jockey clubs, which own and operate their own track. Each club is allowed to run off site betting agencies in the area where they operate. Spanish Gaming Company Codere has 10-year exclusivity agreements with some of the main national Jockey Clubs through licences granted by the Ministry of Agriculture. Codere began its operations in Brazil in 2005 with a proposal to develop horse racing.
Codere is also a major player in the Uruguayan horse racing industry. Codere runs the Maroñas racetrack Hipódromo de Maroñas HÃpica Rioplatense S.A (a joint venture between Codere and the Sociedad Argentina de Medios S.A) after it bid for and won the right to reopen the track after the track went bankrupt in 1997. Codere also operates Las Piedras Racetrack, following the granting of a new license for the ownership, use and operation for a period of 30 years. Las Piedras racetrack opened in 2012.
The news provides a welcome boost for the industry as horse racing has been on the wane over recent years in both markets. The simulcast follows a trial run which began on April 13 in Uruguay.
