Betway extends horseracing sponsorship portfolio
Operator ramps up its horseracing marketing strategy with the backing of events at four major UK racecourses
Betway has bolstered its horseracing sponsorship portfolio after signing new contracts with Jockey Club Racecourses, Arena Racing Company (ARC) and York Racecourse to extend existing partnerships and land new deals at Newmarket and Haydock.
The deals will see the operator replace Betfair as sponsor of the Listed King Charles II Stakes on 20 May, while also backing the Group 3 Criterion Trophy on 1 July, both held at Newmarket.
The firm has also struck a deal to sponsor the Group 3 John Of Gaunt Stakes on 10 June at Haydock.
As part of the new agreements, the operator has renewed its backing of the Group 2 Betway Yorkshire Cup and Group 2 Betway Great Voltigeur at York, along with the traditional season starter, the Betway Lincoln.
The news follows the operator’s recent agreement with Jockey Club Racecourses to back the Kingmaker and Kingwell National Hunt events in February.
“We are totally committed to supporting British horseracing and are really excited to announce these new deals, as well as the extensions to some of our flagship Flat sponsorships,” Anthony Werkman, marketing and operations director at Betway, said.
“Our involvement in key races across York, Doncaster, Newmarket and Haydock means that we’ve got a calendar packed full of great sponsorships and we’re looking forward to the Flat season ahead.”
The meetings take place after April when the new levy scheme is set to be introduced to replace both the current land-based levy and the ABP scheme introduced last year to extract funding from offshore digital businesses.
Ladbrokes, which refused to sign up to the ABP scheme that Betway is a member of, made its return to big-time horseracing sponsorship this week to become sponsor of the formerly titled Hennessey Gold Cup as a result of the new levy scheme.