Ladbrokes extends retail lay-to-lose policy

Bringing its racing policy in line with that of Coral’s, Ladbrokes has extended its ‘lay to-lose’ horse racing bets guarantee, which will be spread across all the operator’s retail outlets.

As first reported by the Racing Post, The group had already put in place a policy to lay bets to lose no less than £5,000 per capita on all races ITV races. However, moving forward Ladbrokes has now added Class 4 and above handicaps to races that it will lay to lose no less than £2,000.

Ladbrokes Coral spokesperson Simon Clare emphasised that: “In practice the overwhelming majority of bets offered up in our shops by our customers have always been laid in full at the prices on offer, but by offering and actively promoting these lay-to-lose guarantees we are making it clear we are happy to commit to laying bets to lose larger amounts.”

He went onto reveal that decision was made after a meeting with  MP Philip Davies, which took place after the West Yorkshire MP had arranged a meeting in Parliament to break down the legitimacy in how bookmakers close and restrict accounts.

Nonetheless, the move won’t be replicated for Ladbrokes Corals online platforms, with Ladbrokes Coral also retaining flexibility on how it lays each way bets.

Clare cited that online betting provides a “completely different environment for betting”, as it allows punters to potentially “place high volumes of bets in a very short space of time”.