The Tote is one of the biggest and most important names in sports betting in the UK, and with retail outlets at most of Britain’s 60 racecourses (now operated by Britbet), they’re pretty hard to miss! The company, based in Wigan, is the largest pool betting operator in the country and has a long, and rather illustrious history.
Pool betting, also sometimes known as parimutuel wagering, is a betting system that differs from what many punters consider to be normal. Instead of placing your bet at the odds set by the bookmaker, all stakes of a certain type are placed into a pool, and the winners’ odds are therefore calculated by dividing the pool amongst the winning bets (minus the bookies’ fee, of course!)
It is actually from pool betting where the name “Tote” comes from: from the “totaliser”, which was traditionally used to show and calculates bets that have already been placed into the pool. In this article, we will be breaking down the complete history of the Tote, from its conception to its current position within the gambling market. We will also be taking a look at the now-discontinued “totesport” brand, which was once emblazoned on 514 betting shops across Britain’s high streets.
When Was the Tote First Set Up?
Well, this is a very interesting story. The Tote was originally set up back in 1928 as the “Racehorse Betting Control Board,” a government entity that was actually founded by a certain politician you might just have heard of – Sir Winston Churchill! This was some time before he would become Prime Minister but he was the Chancellor the time.
This board aimed to crack down on illegal off course gambling by setting up a safe, government-controlled option that also raised tax revenue for the government. In addition, this also ensured that revenue from betting could be reinvested back into horse racing. Apparently, Churchill made a famous speech about illegal bookmakers, declaring, “We will fight them at Cheltenham, we will fight them at Ascot…” … or maybe not – we’ll see ourselves out! Anyway, the Tote’s first appearance at major racing events came in 1929, where they appeared at both Newmarket and Carlisle, a kind of trial run to see whether the idea would be a success.
They needn’t have feared, as the Tote’s introduction to the betting industry was highly successful, largely because they offered a safe alternative to standard betting one that people quickly got on board with. We can see why, as if your options are limited to either using an illegal bookmaker, or one set up by the government, it’s a fairly easy choice! Following the success at Newmarket and Carlisle, Tote Investors Limited was created in 1930 to ensure that the integrity of both the sport of horse racing and the Tote’s mission were being upheld.
The Betting Levy Act, 1961
Following 30 years of success for the Tote under the name Racehorse Betting Control Board, a period in which the institution was even able to sponsor their own race, the Tote Investors Cup in Kempton, things changed a little in 1961. The RBCB was renamed to the “Horserace Totaliser Board”, or, of course, the “Tote” for short. It was also no longer responsible for redistributing funds back into the sport, as this task was passed on to the Horserace Betting Levy Board.
What did the Betting Levy Act do? Well, it allowed bookmakers to open up betting stores on the high street, a move that changed the nature of gambling in the UK forever. However, due to their government affiliation, the Tote were unable to cash in on this new opportunity, and were therefore limited to the racetracks. This is because it was believed that opening gambling shops would threaten the Tote’s integrity and what they had originally been set up for. Despite this, the ban only lasted just over a decade, as the Tote were able to open up their first betting shop in 1972, under the brand “totesport”, stylised with a lower case “t”.
What Was Totesport?
We will now take a brief interlude from our complete history of the Tote to take a look at totesport, the company’s brand of high street betting shops, which was first set up in 1972. The decision to lift the previous embargo on opening Tote-branded betting shops was made after the government came under enormous pressure from both punters, who were invested in the brand, and members of the institution’s board.
Although the government were keen to maintain the role that the Tote was initially set up to do, it proved difficult for them to argue against the vast earnings that other brands’ betting shops had been able to accumulate, and they relented. These totesport shops remained owned and run by the government, and quickly were able to establish themselves as major players in the high street betting market.
At its peak, the Tote employed more than 4,000 staff, including those at race grounds and in betting shops, and owned 514 totesport branches across the UK. Furthermore, rather than simply sticking to the horse racing market and pools betting, totesport shops now offered the opportunity to bet on a number of different sports, such as football. They also offered standard fixed-odds betting too, essentially acting just like any other bookmaker.
Following the emergence of totesport shops on the UK’s high streets, the Tote became one of the biggest gambling brands in the country, and this was aided by their unique concept and history. They also began operating online, creating their own totesport website. They retained their significant presence on Britain’s high streets until 2011, when the Tote was sold to Betfred, a deal which we will get on to very soon. For a fun trivia fact that you will almost certainly never need: totesport were actually the shirt sponsors of Hull City for two seasons between 2009 and 2011!
Deal with Other Betting Retailers, 1992
After success continued throughout the 1970s and 80s, the Tote were able to forge a hugely lucrative agreement in 1992, one that took the business to a new level of success. They were able to secure the rights to sell their pools-style (not to be confused with the football pools though the model is similar) product within the branches of other high street betting shops, such as Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill.
As these companies predominately offered fixed-odds betting, the inclusion of the Tote’s pool betting service was mutually beneficial, as there was no direct competition between the two. This section of the business was known as Tote Direct, and allowed the Tote to reach more punters than they had ever been able to previously, vastly increasing revenue.
This move allowed the Tote to have something of a monopoly on the pool betting market, as they had little to no competitors in this field, and were well-regarded within the industry. By the late 90s, they were easily one of the most successful bookmakers in the world, and had links to similar companies across the globe.
Another venture which also greatly increased the Tote’s revenue and appeal was their partnership with Channel 4 racing to create the “Scoop6” pool bet. This expanded and improved their offering of jackpot-type bets, where punters could potentially win huge sums from small stakes via what we can view as a pool-based acca.
The Scoop6 saw punters aim to correctly guess the winner of six different televised horse races, for the chance to score a large win if successful. It was from this bet that the first ever horse race bettor became a millionaire from a single bet, and it was an instant success. In fact, in 2008, more than £4 million was bet on the Scoop6 in a single day!
Attempted Privatisation
Although Tote’s connection to the government made it appear trustworthy and concerned with the welfare of its punters, as well as the integrity of horse racing, it is hard to avoid the fact that it made an enormous amount of cash. There was therefore a high level of interest in the company from possible investors. In addition, there were those who questioned whether the government should have such direct links to gambling.
Put all of those factors together and it is no surprise that the idea of privatisation was regularly mentioned over the years, although this didn’t actually occur until 2011. The first time that the Tote flirted with the possibility of privatisation came in 1989, when it was suggested by the Tory government, no strangers to privatisation in general, after Lloyds bank had shown interest in purchasing the gambling giant. However, following widespread backlash from the horse racing and gambling industries, these plans were forced to be abandoned by Michael Howard, then home secretary.
Despite this setback, a fresh attempt at privatising the Tote was launched in 1997 by the now Labour government, led by home secretary Jack Straw. In fact, the sale of the Tote became a commitment of Labour’s 2001 manifesto, showing just how determined they were to get the institution privatised and wash their hands of it! To help facilitate this privatisation, the Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Act 2004 (a real mouthful) was passed, which would allow the Tote to be converted to a limited company, so that it could be sold (but it still wasn’t, yet.)
The Attempts Continue…
Following the successful conversion of the Tote to a limited company, Gordon Brown, who was chancellor at the time, revealed plans for the company’s privatisation in his 2006 Budget. The government then encouraged a racing consortium, along with the Tote’s staff, to make a bid for the company in 2007. This proposal was submitted to and quickly rejected by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, due to the fact that it was funded by private equity.
However, this did not stop the Labour government. In 2008, they announced that the Tote was now to be sold on the open market, encouraging people and organisations to bid for it. Unfortunately for them, this coincided with the financial crisis, and they were forced to make a U-turn following an extensive audit, meaning that the waiting game continued. In 2009, Gordon Brown, who was now Prime Minister, once again declared that the Tote, along with several other public entities, would be privatised, yet this did not materialise. No progress was then made until the 2010 general election, where Brown resigned. Following his resignation, progress was finally made under the new Cameron-Clegg coalition government, and the bidding process was finally able to begin once again!
The Bidding Process (About Time)
By early 2011, it seemed as if the government were nothing short of desperate to rid themselves of the Tote. They therefore chose to relax some of the rules that had previously prevented a sale from going through, such as those surrounding the use of private equity. The bidding process began with 18 possible suitors in its first round, which was quickly narrowed down to a shortlist of five.
The five on this shortlist were not revealed to the public, but they were rumoured to include Betfred, Gala Coral Group, brothers David and Simon Reuben, a foundation set up by the Tote’s current management, and Sports Investment Partners, who were led by Sir Martin Broughton.
By May 2011, it was revealed that there were only two bidders left in the process: Sports Investment Partners and high street giants Betfred. On the 3rd of June, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that Betfred were the successful bidder, purchasing the Tote for a reported £265 million, and this takeover deal was completed in July.
This actually represented something of a bargain, spurred on by the devastating impact of the financial crisis on the UK economy. In 2007, just four years prior to the takeover, the government had rejected a bid in the region of £400m, as they believed this was an insufficient offer for the Tote, which it most likely was at the time.
What Did Betfred Receive from This Deal?
Well, through the takeover, Betfred inherited over 500 betting shops, as well as unparalleled access to the UK’s racecourses, allowing them to establish themselves as one of the world’s largest betting brands. This meant they had over 1,300 shops and were in a serious position to challenge Coral, William Hill and Ladbrokes.
They weren’t the only ones to prosper from this deal though. An enormous £90m of the cash was invested into the horse racing industry, whilst a further £90m was given to taxpayers, showing that the Tote had never lost its focus on people and the industry it was part of. Alongside this, Betfred also declared that they give £11 million in the first year to the horse racing industry, before pledging another £9m a year for the following six.
How Did This Deal Affect Betfred?
As this takeover effectively gave Betfred a monopoly over the pool betting market, it was extremely lucrative and allowed them to boast huge revenue in the years following the deal. However, this continued success came at a cost. Their relationship with the horse racing industry began to suffer, as people suggested that they were failing to provide much needed funding for the sport, as the Tote had for many years.
Partly because of this, in 2019, UK Tote Group, a racing consortium, launched a bid to purchase the Tote from Betfred, and this was accepted, bringing an eight-year relationship to an end. We will round up this deal below, and explain what it meant for the Tote going forward.
UK Tote Group Takeover, 2019
The UK Tote Group’s takeover from Betfred began in 2018, when the consortium successfully purchased a 25% share in the company for £20m. This is a figure which showed that the Tote had rather significantly decreased in value as a brand in its own right, although part of this was down to the closure of retail outlets.
This initial bid was then followed up by an offer of £95 million for the remainder of the Tote’s shares in 2019, an offer that was accepted by Betfred owner Fred Done. This began a new era for the longstanding institution, which was now over 90 years old. The UK Tote Group declared that they were focusing on international expansion, with Chief Executive Alex Frost quoted as saying, “International collaboration is right at the top of our agenda. Growing the British pool grows the potential contributions we can make to British racing.”
This focus on international expansion has become key to ensuring the continued financial success of horse racing in the UK, as punters from around the world can now place pool bets on British races using the “World Pool.” The value of this was clearly demonstrated at Royal Ascot in 2019, where a whopping £92 million was invested into the pools, which is more than four times what had been invested the year before!
This vast potential is what Frost and the rest of UK Tote Group wished to tap into through their takeover of the Tote, and they have therefore launched sleek new branding and a new website, to hopefully appeal to punters around the world.
The widely popular “Tote Ten to Follow”, which is a season-long fantasy competition for racing fans, who can win big cash prizes, has also been brought back, having previously been removed under Betfred. To this day, the Tote’s website, tote.co.uk, remains a hugely popular site, and allows customers to bet on a variety of different sports and events. Furthermore, the Tote have also retained their presence in Britain’s high street betting shops (via their bets, rather than physical shops of their own), and remain the most popular and well-known option for pool betting.
Britbet at the Races
Around the time of the takeover by UK Tote Group Ltd, a deal was also struck to see britbet take control of Tote betting at 55 British racecourses. In 2022, they expanded their offering to include UK greyhound tracks too. They are a separate entity to Tote but sell their pool bets at racecourses up and down the country.
Britbet is a partnership between the various owners of UK racecourses, including the two big players Arena and the Jockey Club. Through the Tote and britbet link-up, UK racecourses were expected to receive over £50m over seven years from 2019. This deal also enabled the UK Tote Group to focus more on the online side of things, as well as marketing and Tote sales through betting shops.