UK bookmakers set to suffer from horse racing call offs
Sunday 11th January 2009
While we saw a number of horse race meetings go ahead this weekend many were cancelled as were a great number through the week. Even though we may be past the worst of the UK freeze we could yet see a number of future meetings cancelled due to insufficient protection for the courses. So how will this impact upon UK bookmakers?
Both online and off-line UK bookmakers will see a significant reduction in their yearly turnover and ultimately their profitability in 2008 and 2009. Each meeting which is cancelled could offer anything up to six or seven races and significant betting turnover on each event. The cancellation of a number of meetings over the last few days could literally reduced turnover and profitability by millions of pounds in the industry. So what can course owners do?
Horse racing is a very difficult sport to protect from the elements although a number of all-weather tracks in the UK have proved very lucrative and reliable of late. However, traditional grass courses will always be at risk in a cold snap as it is near impossible to protect the whole racing track from sub zero temperatures.
While we saw a number of horse race meetings go ahead this weekend many were cancelled as were a great number through the week. Even though we may be past the worst of the UK freeze we could yet see a number of future meetings cancelled due to insufficient protection for the courses. So how will this impact upon UK bookmakers?