The UK Tote Group has entered into an agreement with France’s state-owned horse racing operator, Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), to expand its pool offering to include French racing fixtures in the UK and Ireland.
Effective from September 28, the agreement serves as an exclusive channel for British and Irish pool betting customers to access French pools. UK Tote will bring a host of French racing events, including the Prix De l’Arc De Triomphe, the company said in a statement.
“We are delighted to work with the PMU on this incredibly positive development for UK and Irish racing fans, which will also drive increased revenues for the grassroots of French racing. By commingling our UK pool into the French pool, British and Irish Tote customers can bet into huge pools on the top-class racing action from France,” Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote Group, said.
“With huge liquidity in pools, there is great value available on every race with winning customers welcomed at the Tote. I would like to thank the PMU team for their cooperation and support, and we wish everyone a successful weekend ahead of two fantastic days of racing at Longchamp.”
The partnership allows Tote customers to place bets in over 7,000 pools and watch live racing from 88 French racecourses annually. This includes 262 Pattern contests and prominent trotting fixtures, accessible through tote.co.uk, tote.ie, and its mobile apps.
PMU traditionally offers pools with stakes of over €750,000 ($786,862) per race, totaling nearly €6 million ($6.29 million) per meeting. As per the company, pools for the Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe attracted bets exceeding €15,000,000 ($15,737,250) last year.
Initially, the Tote will introduce a placepot for weekend racing at Longchamp, along with the six most popular single-leg pools, which include win, place, exacta, trifecta, quinella, and swinger bets. Plans to introduce more bet types will be considered in the future.
“This agreement is a strategic milestone in our long-standing partnership with UK Tote Group. We are very proud of this new step that marks the recognition of our expertise as a global horse racing operator and highlights the excellence of French races. This exciting development will enhance the already highly attractive horse betting offering of the UK Tote,” Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet, Chief Executive Officer of PMU, said.
PMU holds a significant monopoly over horse racing betting in France. Along with the La Français des Jeux (FDJ) betting operator, their combined revenue accounted for 78% of the total French GGR during the first half of 2023, according to the latest figures from the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ).
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/noticias/2023/10/03/69026-uk-tote-group-partners-with-france-39s-pmu-to-offer-french-racing-fixtures-in-uk-and-ireland
