Over 8,000 UK betting shops will be linked to the Irish Tote pools through Tote Direct.

The new deal which now allows UK betting shops to bet into Win, Place, Exacta and Placepot pools, has led the Irish Tote to revamp the Irish Placepot – most significantly running the Placepot on races 1-6.

Alexis Murphy, Chief Executive of Tote Ireland, said: “This landmark deal gives us direct access to the wider UK betting market which is worth over £30 billion.”

“Tote Direct has been immensely successful for the UK Tote and we are delighted to be able to access this unique distribution platform to sell our products.”

“The UK Placepot pools are constantly growing, averaging over £70K and swelling to almost £1 million at the Cheltenham Festival. We believe that the Irish Placepot will eventually get to these levels as UK punters are encouraged to bet on high-quality Irish racing.”

David Craven, totepool Managing Director, said: “This deal will provide additional product for UK bookmakers from Irish racing, especially the exotic bets such as the Placepot which is extremely popular with UK punters.

“We are at the forefront of international co-mingling and expect to bring additional foreign products to UK punters through the Tote Direct network later this year.”

The New Irish Placepot, launched in time for the Punchestown festival, will be run on races 1 to 6. The dividend will be declared to a €1 stake and Irish punters will now be able to bet in fractional units from as low as €0.10 in Ireland and 5 pence in the UK.

The Irish Placepot will keep its unique feature of paying four places in races with more than 15 runners and will be run using Irish Placepot rules.

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