The governing body of horse racing in Ireland – Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) – announced some statistics revealing that the decline registered in on-course betting in the country continued in 2017. According to the regulator, the redevelopment of Curragh also had negative impact on overall attendance figures in 2017.
According to Brian Kavanagh, the Chief Executive Officer of HRI, the decline came to represent the long-term challenged which has been faced by local on-course operators.
The report rolled out by the Irish horse racing governing body further revealed an increase in a number of areas of the industry, with commercial sponsorship in the sports boost further turned out as beneficial for the positive results.
The wholly-owned subsidiary of HRI Tote Ireland reported turnover increase for seventh consecutive year. However, on-course bookmakers were still put in a difficult situation due to the fact that a 5.9% decline was registered, with total 2017 revenue amounting to €61.6 million. In comparison, the revenue generated in 2016 was estimated to €65.5 million.
As revealed by the regulatory body in its report, on-course shops betting also suffered a decline, with betting marking a 4.8% decline to €9.9 million. Betting on the Tote, on the other hand, rose by 7.2% to €103.8 million, while overall on-course betting fell by 6.2% to €83.1 million.
Prize-Money and Sponsorships Increase
Mr. Kavanagh explained that the revenue increase of Tote Ireland was enhanced by Irish pools betting, which rose by 9.5%, and by international pools betting, which rose by 11.1%. On the other hand, the HRI Chief Executive Officer also commented the attendance figures, which as he revealed, reflected the reduction at the Curragh, and more specifically the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and the second day of the Longines Irish Champions Weekend.
He said that the first six months of 2017 saw very strong attendances of the major jumps festivals. According to the data revealed by the Horse Racing Ireland, the Punchestown’s spring festival attracted a record attendance of 122,557. The Irish Derby, on the other hand, attracted over 25,000 people in 2015, but a sharp decline was registered to below 6,000 in 2017.
As far as prize-money is concerned, HRI Chief Executive explained that the regulatory body remained committed to increasing prize-money in order to stay competitive and to attract more racehorse owners on the territory of the country. There was a 7.6% increase in prize-money, which reached €61.1 million in 2017, with additional €2.2 million budgeted for the current year.
The number of sponsorships in the local horse racing industry also rose by 3%, reaching €4.94 million. As said by Mr. Kavanagh, the trend of increasing number of sponsorships could be considered very encouraging, as it showed that horseracing remained attractive as an advertising and promotional area for business.
- Author
Daniel Williams
