Bookmakers in Ireland may not be able to guarantee they could provide service on tracks following a dispute with the Association of Irish Racecourses and Horse Racing Ireland. The Irish National Professional Bookmakers Association told SBCNews members may not offer their benefits at all Irish race meetings beginning this past Tuesday with a meet in Punchestown.
The dispute has focused on race planning, the intervals between races, and fees, with bookmakers insisting negotiations need to take place.
“Race intervals are common place at 35 minutes with eight-race programs becoming very prevalent,” bookmakers said in a statement. “Racecourse attendance has suffered badly, especially at midweek meetings which have caused on-course betting turnover to decline by 75 percent in the last ten years. The decline in turnover and the burden of servicing the additional 55 meetings per year is no longer viable for the on-course market.”
Racecourses have dealt with the trend with other racecourse business, but have refused to reduce charges to bookmakers who have effectively been told to take it or leave it, the group said. Bookmakers can no longer sustain these losses and remedial action is necessary to survive.
As a result, bookmaking will no longer be guaranteed at all race meetings. The bookmaker association prefers to engage in negotiations with the tracks to encourage more people to attend midweek.
“We have to pay five times the admission fee to get into any meeting,” said on-course bookmaker Ray Mulvany. “So if the admission is €20 (US$22.03), we have to pay €100 just to stand. We have no problem paying that for the big meetings or at weekends. But at midweek fixtures where attendances are very poor, we are looking for changes. We’ve met three times in the last seven weeks and we’ve been met at all stages with nothing.”
