SPORTS BETTING

UK – UK Tote extends XB Net deal to offer premium North American racing ahead of the Breeders’ Cup

By Phil - 31 October 2022

XB Net, the leading provider of premium content for North American racing, has renewed its existing commingling distribution deal with powerhouse operator, UK Tote Group.

The UK Tote Group is the owner of the UK Tote, the largest privately owned Tote in the world, and is committed to growing its comprehensive horse racing portfolio to ensure all the best racing from around the world is available to its UK and Irish customers at www.tote.co.uk.

This agreement sees the UK Tote secure the overwhelming majority of premier stateside races for its highly engaged digital UK and Irish racing fans, including this week’s annual showpiece festival at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in Keeneland, which runs from 4-5 November, where XB Net leverages an exclusive long-term partnership as the international-rights distributor.

More broadly, the deal offers a wider range of XB Net’s live pictures, data and betting services from an unrivalled network of over 60 North American tracks (over 75% of U.S. horse racing). This allows the UK Tote to flexibly populate its programming timetable, thereby offering customers an authentic U.S. horse racing service which neatly plugs any gap on the daily betting calendar with engaging, easy-access content. The UK Tote platform harnesses everything required to run a responsible horse racing business across online and mobile.

This daily schedule of immersive content, which chronologically transitions the UK and Ireland’s domestic horse racing scene, ensures the UK Tote has a reliable source of fast-settling betting content following the conclusion of UK and Irish racing. The engaging action is proven to capture and retain the attention of audiences during competitive digital-entertainment cycles, driving new revenue streams across many of the planet’s most prestigious horse races. These include the Pegasus World Cup, two legs of the revered Triple Crown, featuring the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, alongside the aforementioned Breeders’ Cup.

XB Net is the proven pacesetter for live North American racing content, managing international rights, data, odds and live broadcast and video streaming on behalf of its growing global portfolio of partners. Corralling low-latency feeds from more than 2,500 meetings, and showcasing over 25,000 races per year, North American racing is continuing to entertain more and more bettors worldwide.

Currently working with many of the world’s leading fixed-odds, spread-betting and commingled wagering companies (such as Flutter Entertainment, bet365, William Hill, Playtech and Entain) XB Net enjoys a growing geographic footprint in mature and emerging markets across Europe, the UK and Ireland, Asia, North and Central America, and Australia.

Jon Knapman, Chief Commercial Officer at UK Tote Group, said: “As a leading player in pool betting, we want to provide our customers with the biggest global pools and for them to be able to bet on the best racing in the world. With pool betting being dominant in U.S. racing, we are delighted to work with XB Net as the leading distributor of North American content, integrating improved feeds alongside associated data and content, such as silks and ratings, with which to elevate the experience for our customers.

“Our customers have already seen the added enjoyment and value that U.S. racing brings to the wider horse racing fan experience. Now it’s an honour to be bringing the Breeders’ Cup World Championships to our UK and Irish audience in what promises to be a thrilling renewal.”

Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President International at XB Net, added: “Securing this continued collaboration with a brand as synonymous with racing as UK Tote Group is another feather in the cap of our diligent team. We’ve been impressed by the UK Tote Group’s recent moves to reignite the UK Tote for a contemporary racing audience, and XB Net’s wide range of low-latency racing solutions and racetracks are providing them with a deeper well from which to draw premium content.  

“Indeed, it’s a privilege to continue working in tandem with proven partners like UK Tote Group and the Breeders’ Cup to optimize and increase the returns to North American racing from overseas during a challenging economic period. Returning the value to racing, racetracks, owners and Horsemen’s groups will help safeguard the future of the sport we all love.

“Live, premium daily sport is ostensibly an easy sell wherever you are in the world. Tellingly, though, if that sport’s betting markets are consistent and its framework familiar to the end user (allied to synchronicity with local leisure periods) then we’ve found that engagement gains quicker and more durable traction with audiences.

“The GMT time zone is, of course, well-positioned to migrate from its domestic racing scene into top-class ‘evening’ meetings stateside, so high-quality 24/7 programming is now an attainable reality for our customers. We can’t wait to see how our comprehensive package continues to perform for the Tote over a range of coming attractions this winter, with this week’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, for which we hold the international distribution rights, an imminent highlight.”