As revealed by Arena Racing Company, the British bookmaker William Hill is to open betting facilities on six of its racecourses. The company, also called ARC Racing and Leisure Group, currently owns and operates 15 racecourses on the territory of the UK, which accounts for almost 40% of the racing fixtures in the country.
ARC explained that it inked a partnership agreement with William Hill, with the betting facilities expected to be officially open over the upcoming weeks. The on-course betting facilities are to be located at Doncaster, Southwell, Wolverhampton, Royal Windsor, Lingfield Park and Worcester. All of them will be operated by William Hill.
Actually, some of the facilities have already been open. The one at Doncaster has been operating since the beginning of June, with William Hill set to sponsor the St Leger there for the first time in September. The betting facilities at Wolverhampton and Royal Windsor opened on August 10th and 13th, respectively. The next betting facility that is set to open on August 20th is the one at Southwell. The two remaining betting facilities are planned to start operating at Lingfield Park and Worcester racecourses until the end of the month.
The openings of the William Hill’s betting shops at the six racecourses have not happened all at once because the facilities needed to be granted with an operating license by the UK Gambling Commission which currently regulates the local gaming industry.
The director of operations at Arena Racing Company, Mark Spincer, commented on the partnership agreement, saying that everyone at ARC were very happy with the chance to work in collaboration with William Hill in order to make sure that all six betting facilities would be open over the weeks to come. According to Mr. Spincer, all of them were well placed so that they could meet the customers’ needs and stay successful in the upcoming years.
The above-mentioned racecourses were left without betting shop facilities since the beginning of the year, when the conflict between Arena Racing Company and Ladbrokes Coral over The Racing Partnership betting shop channel escalated and reached a deadlock. A deal between Ladbrokes Coral and TRP was agreed in July and by that time Arena Racing Company’s negotiations with William Hill over the six betting shops were advanced, despite a final agreement had not been reached.
The partnership agreement between ARC and the British bookmaker is the latest commercial deal between the two operators. Back in December 2016, William Hill inked a long-term media rights agreement with The Racing Partnership and then, in May 2017 Arena Racing Company made another deal with William Hill, under which ARC acquired Newcastle and Sunderland’s greyhound tracks.
The divisional director of William Hill for the northern region – Steven White – confirmed of the deal, saying that the betting facilities operated by William Hill at Doncaster racecourse already proved themselves as popular among customers.
- Author
Olivia Cole
