The full implications of today’s announce that ARC have bought Newcastle/Sunderland and signed a partnership deal with Greyhound Media Group may not be immediately obvious to most owners and trainers. This is not simply about who owns two tracks in the North East. It is about seizing back control of the greyhound industry from the bookies and making plans for the future.
The catalyst to today’s announcement was the SIS decision, presumably taken a couple of years ago, to seize control of the BAGS fixtures from 2018 onwards, while (probably) dismantling BAGS altogether. After the four Corals/Ladbrokes tracks signed up to SIS, a dozen non-Bookmaker owned tracks joined together with a hope of becoming an alternative supplier to the betting shops. The Greyhound Media Group (GMG) was the most significant pooling of resources ever seen.
However – when SIS announced plans to buy the two North East tracks from William Hill, they were well on their way to seizing enough greyhound product to go to market. With six tracks on side, they were possibly just a couple short of a viable, saleable service.
The independent bookies were in a difficult position. Although presumably reluctant to hand over their cash to their bigger business rivals, they would not have wanted to pay for a second greyhound service; they already pay for two providers of horse racing. Certainly the Corals/BAGS shops – who control around 45% of the market – would not have entertained GMG product.
Any track not contracted to SIS faced a bleak future. It is quite possible that a third of UK dog tracks could have closed without BAGS income.
Then – out of the blue – one of the two leading players in horseracing – ARC – who are direct opposition to SIS, and own 15 racecourses, announced plans to buy both Hills tracks and form an agreement to provide a horse/greyhound service with GMG.
So where does all this lead? In the first instance, ARC/GMG can now offer a product to the independent bookies to more than match the SIS dog-only deal.
Then – where does that leave the Corals/Ladbrokes shops? Will they want to pay for two services? Without Sunderland/Newcastle, they don’t have enough dog product of their own and they will still need ARC’s horse racing. It could be difficult for SIS too. They are already financially committed by contract to the Coral/Ladbrokes tracks.
But this is about way more than UK betting shops. This is about supplying a complete racing service to betting companies in Latin America, Japan, China and the USA. This is about the future with horse and greyhound tracks controlling and co-mingling their totes and taking a percentage on a global scale.
This is absolutely mega!
