News

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
More commingled pool betting in Europe

In mid June, two new initiatives in commingled pooling have been launched independently from each other. Commingled pooling means that bettors from different operators or jurisdictions bet into one single pool (or tote, or pari-mutuel). The attraction of commingled pooling is that the pools get much bigger and as a consequence, the potential winnings for bettors.

Tote Ireland and the horse racing TV channel At The Races International (ATRI) agreed a commingling agreement which will enable international customers to bet directly into Irish racing pools operated by Tote Ireland. The signal of ATRI is received by betting shops in different countries and bettors from Holland, Germany, Spain, Russia and North America will be able to place their bets directly into the Irish pool.

In France, bettors have been able to bet on the Royal Ascot races this week into the UK Tote pool. This is particularly advantageous to the UK bettors, that will see their Tote pool increase massively due to input from one of the world largest pools (PMU from France).