William Hill, Ladbrokes, other bookies lose Turf TV legal fight
Ladbrokes and William Hill are among bookmakers that have lost an English Appeal Court ruling against last August's High Court ruling that Turf TV parent Amalgamated Racing (Amrac) had not acquired certain media rights in contravention of UK competition law and the EC Treaty.
LADBROKES and William Hill are among bookmakers that have lost an English Appeal Court ruling against last August’s High Court ruling that Turf TV parent Amalgamated Racing (Amrac) had not acquired certain media rights in contravention of UK competition law and the EC Treaty.
Amrac is a joint venture between Alphameric and Racecourse Media Services owned by 30 of the UK’s largest racecourses.
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, the group of bookmakers had alleged that Amrac had acted as a cartel to undermine the bookmakers’ existing channel, Satellite Information Services (SIS), but lost their challenge over the over the rights to broadcast live races from 31 of the UK’s racecourses, including Ascot, Cheltenham, Epsom and Newmarket. The Court of Appeal for England and Wales today upheld the ruling.
Alphameric group chief executive Alan Morcombe said today’s decision to dismiss the bookmakers’ appeal against the ruling was “a huge achievement for Amrac and the racecourses.”
He also emphasised his hope that now the time-consuming and costly court case and appeal process were out of the way, “all sides can focus on working together for the benefit of racing and the bookmaking community.”
Morcombe added: “Alphameric remains committed to working with our bookmaker clients. We hope that Amrac and the major bookmakers can develop closer and better relations, which we believe will lead to a more profitable future for everybody concerned.”
The group of bookies originally included Betfred, but as reported on EGRmagazine.com, Betfred withdrew from the legal action in April after it became the last of the major UK bookmakers to sign a long-term deal to show Turf TV in its betting shops.