A Small Bookmaker's View Of A Big Problem For Racing

Two pence on a pint, 20p on a packet of fags . . . that’s how I remember budgets, growing up.

This one was different, though — and it’s not just because I’ve got older. The whole world has changed, and so have my circumstances.

I’m the co-founder of a small betting company and, grown up as I may now be, that’s not enough to allow me — or DragonBet, the company I co-founded — to escape growing pains. 
And pain is exactly what that last budget delivered. 

We forecasted it to be bad - rises on our products inevitable - but the depth and extent of those rises caught us, and the whole industry, it seems, by surprise.

I’m not an expert. I’m green, very green, in fact. 

DragonBet has only been going for a few years. It’s a continuation, modernisation, and upscaling of both mine, and my brother David’s on-course bookmaking business, born out of our father, John Lovell’s, racecourse pitches.

Bookmaker John Lovell, on course.

We’re green because we haven’t been doing it long — three years, in fact.

But what we lack in longevity, I believe we’ve more than made up for in effort and genuine bookmaking understanding. 

I’ve spent my life taking bets at racetracks, point-to-points, and flapping greyhound tracks; my brother has spent his making a living through punting. 

Between us, we’ve lived every side of the game.

Those three years have been one hell of a ride and an even steeper learning curve. 

I’d hope they’ve also given me enough insight to talk about the likely effects of this budget through the lens of a small operator — how I see the bigger corporations reacting, and the impact on the sport I love: horse racing.

Because, it’s not simple. The damage to racing from increasing tax on casino and sports betting, I fear, will be deep and long-lasting. 

And as a fan of the sport, that worries me.

I can’t promise answers, and the chances of a rollback are slim to none — with slim being out of town. We are where we are. My own company will have to adapt, and so will the industry.

The hardest hit — and the least considered — in all of this, in my view, are the people who’ve had the least say: the consumers. The average punter. 

They are the grease that keeps the machine moving. Like it or not, UK racing is financed through losing punters.

But losing isn’t fun, and fun is what this whole industry is sold on. I’ve always believed the biggest miss in defending the industry is the lack of noise about the utility it brings to those who bet.

Be it the buzz, the puzzle, the joy in being proven right and backing it with hard-earned cash . . . or the social side — the collective ecstasy and sense of belonging you get on a racecourse or in a betting shop, cheering a win home with like-minded people.

Most punters know they’ll be wrong more than they’re right. Most accept that the utility comes at a financial cost — but they also need to feel they’ve got a chance. 

The dog needs to see the hare every now and then, so to speak.

The worry now is that it will be even harder to win, even short-term. 

Bookmaker margins will increase. Free bets that extend interest, or Best Odds Guaranteed — which doesn’t turn losers into winners, but makes that pound last a bit longer — are all on the way out.

Punters will still bet, but they’ll lose more, and lose quicker. And that’s where racing will really suffer. 

Not everyone keeps a profit and loss account; most measure it through instinct and pleasure gained. 

But let me tell you — there’s little pleasure in ripping through pound notes quickly. 

Horse race punting works much better as a subscription model than an upfront cost, and racing desperately needs its subscribers to keep going.

It also needs funding — sponsorship and levy. We’re a small company, albeit one that’s grown quickly, employing around 50 people. 

Racing is at the heart of what we do; it’s front and centre of our website and our marketing. 

I haven’t counted precisely, but we must be close to having sponsored around 200 races since launch — plus a racing stable and a jockey.

All of that now has to be re-thought, re-planned, and will very likely be dropped. 

We can’t push racing any more than we do; it’s by far our least profitable sport in terms of return on investment, and the marketing budget certainly doesn’t come from that vertical.

The silver lining for a company of our size — if there is one — is that survival may bring us closer to the big boys. 

We offer Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG), extra places, a loyalty club, and free bets — but as an independent bookie, we’ve differentiated by focusing on service, a healthy risk appetite, and an understanding of what it is to be a punter.

We don’t have the tech the big firms use for automated customer journey tracking — alerting them when someone’s gone quiet, or noting that Customer X likes golf and sending them a bespoke Ryder Cup special.

I don’t see a world where those bonuses, extra places, BOG, and marketing spend aren’t vastly reduced. 

Big bookmakers using retention and acquisition powered by massive bonusing are in trouble. 

I’d hope we’ll gain an edge through building a genuine community — people who value the way we operate and understand what we value: the punter.

The budget changes will also mean fewer entrants to the regulated market.

The black market, though, will thrive. 

Customer harm will increase.

We’ve built our business with compliance as a central pillar. Of our 50-odd employees, around 20 work directly in compliance and safer gambling. 

Still, I can’t say we’ve never had people with a problem gamble with us.

But I can say with certainty we have done, and always will do, everything we can to identify and protect people who punt with us, using the tools and resources we have.
 
I’ve spent my lifetime around gambling and seen people experience harm. 

Those people exist. It’s a terrible affliction — but don’t think increased taxes, a more expensive and quicker-losing product, or a thriving black market will help them in any way.

So what’s the plan for DragonBet? 

Keep going, I suppose. Get better. 

Work twice as hard to stay where we are. And that’s possible — something the masochistic tendencies of a bookie actually relish.

Our visible sponsorships and overall spend will be reduced, but we’ve got staff to look after, and to do that we need to survive on less short-term revenue. 

I just hope horse racing, like me, is looking inward — ready for medium-term pain for the sake of its own long-term survival. 
Time will tell.

But one thing is for sure - now is the time for horse racing and the bookmaking industry it is so closely aligned with - to stick together as never before.