Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC (LSE:LCL) has finally resolved its dispute with major racecourse owner Arena Racing Company, over the price of broadcast rights.
The bookmaker has agreed a deal on media rights with The Racing Partnership, which covers 15 courses owned by Arena Racing Company, the UK’s largest racecourse operator, and seven independent tracks.
Ladbrokes Coral is due to give a trading update in a week.
READ: Ladbrokes Coral dampened by ‘mixed’ sports results
Content will be streamed on mobile devices shortly
The new deal means Ladbrokes Coral’s 3,820 betting shops across the UK and Ireland will now be able to show races from these sites as well as South African Racing, which was included in the agreement. Content will also be streamed on mobile devices shortly.
The pair called the deal a "first-of-a-kind" because it was based purely on a profit-share model, meaning both parties have an incentive to raise the amount bet on horse racing.
Agreements with other gambling companies are partly based on a profit-share but have a base amount that must be paid.
Retail estate suffering from lack of pictures
Its retail estate had been suffering from the lack of pictures from 22 racecourses after it refused to pay The Racing Partnership’s charge to show the races.
Broker Barclays said the stalemate meant Ladbrokes Coral was showing 23% fewer horse racing fixtures in its shops than rivals, which it thought was “leading to William Hill (LSE:WMH) and Paddy Power Betfair (LSE:PPB) taking retail market share”.
Barclays believed that customers would either spend time at rival bookmakers or simply not visit Ladbrokes’ shops as often.
“The longer that LCL does have content parity with peers, the greater the risk customers move allegiance to rivals,” it had warned.