Sportium CEO Alberto Eljarrat seeks to deliver ‘new horizons’ for Spanish racing

Grupo Cirsa and Ladbrokes Spanish sportsbook joint-venture Sportium continues its commitment to modernizing Spanish horseracing, announcing that it has secured an exclusive partnership with ‘Gran Hipódromo Dos Hermanas’ – Andalucía’s biggest and most prestigious racetrack.

The agreement sees Sportium become the lead betting services supplier to Apuesta Hípica y Deportiva Iberia (AHD Iberia), the province’s sole racetrack operator.

Moving forward, Sportium confirms that it will broadcast Gran Hipódromo race events across its land-based and digital verticals, becoming the first betting operator to take bets across Spain on Andalusian horseracing.

A key corporate directive of Sportium Chief Executive Alberto Eljarrat, in 2018 the Spanish bookmaker has moved to invest in redeveloping Spanish racing propositions and properties.

Updating Spanish media, Eljarrat restated that Sportium was committed to ‘taking the beautiful sport of horseracing to new horizons in Spain, by securing it a wider public profile’.

“Spain has the capacity to host racing fixtures all year-round – great venues, hospitality and climate,” said Eljarrat. “However, at present, we enjoy only 100 days of racing per year. This amounts to 500 races when compared to Italy’s 3,000, France where you have 20 for each race that we celebrate, and the UK were racing is a tradition.

“I believe that we are not leaders in turf, simply because we have not developed proper racing betting systems to support the sport’s infrastructures, Sportium will change this.”

Developing  Eljarrat’s new vision for Spanish horseracing, last October Sportium announced that it had entered a strategic partnership with French sportsbook PMU France, significantly expanding its betting resources and live broadcasts of European racing events.

Sportium’s investment in Spanish racing will support the bookmaker’s retail expansion which has been undertaken during 2018, with the bookmaker opening new betting points in Andalucía and the Belleric Islands.