SBC News BAGS greyhound streaming boosts racing's funds by £750,000
Photo: Steve Nash

BAGS greyhound streaming boosts racing’s funds by £750,000

Photo: Steve Nash
Photo: Steve Nash

Bookmakers are to add three quarters of a million pounds into the coffers of greyhound racing after the successful launch of a new streaming service six months ago.

BAGS, the Bookmakers’ Afternoon Greyhound Service which organises greyhound fixtures to be televised in betting shops,  has announced that it has raised almost £750,000 additional funds for the greyhound racing industry via the introduction of streaming of BAGS racing from October last year.

The money will be paid to tracks as part of BAGS’ commitment to its tracks and the industry as a whole. BAGS said that some tracks have already stated that they will put a high percentage of this money into increasing prize money and welfare projects, meaning that funding will be felt right down to the grass roots of the industry.

Clive Feltham, CEO at greyhound track owner GRA and Chairman of the Racecourse Promoters Association, commented: “This is good news for Greyhound Racing and a very welcome boost to the big investment made into greyhound welfare and the grass roots of our sport.

“We are delighted that the BAGS online service has quickly established itself and I know that all BAGS contracted racecourses will be working hard to play their part in continually improving the product and securing more and more customers. I consider that we have the best greyhound racing in the world and our aim with BAGS must be to secure the largest possible part of a massive world-wide market.”

John Curran, the Kinsley promoter who is a Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) and Fund director, said: “We’re all hugely delighted at this news, streaming is successful and growing.” He went on to say that he expected this new revenue to go into extra prize money and welfare projects, including finding homes for retired dogs and upgrading trainers’ kennels.

“It is important that this money is spent to benefit the grass roots, and that’s where it’s going.”

The announcement is a timely one given the ongoing discussions over the funding of the greyhound racing by the betting industry, which has been thrown into sharp focus of late with the UK government’s plans for changes to the statutory horseracing betting levy.

BAGS said that it is aware of the on-going discussions taking place between the GBGB and the betting industry concerning the future funding of the sport, and that the GBGB has identified greyhound welfare and prize money as areas of outstanding need.  BAGS has not so subtly suggested that a large percentage of the money generated by streaming  will be returned in prize money and welfare. It also warned that it will be monitoring this redistribution closely.

For decades an integral part of the UK betting shop experience, streaming has seen BAGS racing to a wider online audience where customers can view each race either on desktop or mobile.

There are approximately 30,000 races run on the BAGS service each year, each available for streaming, including every race staged live on Sky Sports. There is expected to be huge interest in streaming around this year’s Greyhound Derby at Wimbledon through the quarter and semi finals culminating with the Final the following Saturday, June 4th.

Dominic Ford, Chairman of BAGS, said: “We are delighted to bring British greyhound racing to a new audience and now is the time to get this income back into the sport. This new source of revenue from bookmakers is adding to the existing industry funding, currently estimate to be more than £40 million a year across the industry.

“Streaming of BAGS racing has been a real success story to date and we hope to build on this, underlining our commitment to put more money back into the sport and safeguard its future.”

There are nine UK partners already live and more are expected to come online in the coming months.  There are also new international markets in the pipeline which could see a further increase in funding going back to the sport.

BAGS CEO Phill Adams said “We have been very encouraged by both the uptake from operators and the growth in volumes from the betting public.  BAGS racing has found a new and important outlet online.

“The continual growth in up take is proving that greyhound racing is as popular as ever, while at the same time highlighting the new demand from younger, tech savvy online customers to bet and watch BAGS racing online. We would also like to say how grateful we are for the level of support we have received from our online partners in driving increased visibility of our racing.”

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