William Hill scoops £10m ITV racing deal

William Hill is finalising a deal to become headline sponsor of ITV’s new racing coverage from 2017, in what would be a major marketing scoop for the operator.

The bookmaker is currently in negotiations with the broadcaster to finalise a multi-year deal and an official announcement is expected to be made later this week.

First reported by The Times, the agreement will start from 1 January when coverage of the sports switches from Channel 4 to ITV, although EGR understands the sponsorship package may cost Hills slightly less than the £10m figure cited by the newspaper.

When the deal is completed, William Hill will gain TV exposure during some of horseracing’s biggest events, including the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot, Aintree’s Grand National Meeting, and the Investec Derby Festival from Epsom Downs.

ITV has said it will show a minimum of 34 fixtures on its main channel and 60 on ITV4 as part of a deal which runs until 31 December 2020.

Today’s sponsorship news comes as a number of bookmakers, including Hills, have suffered a reduction in UK racing exposure having decided not to sign up to British Racing’s controversial Authorised Betting Partner (ABP) scheme.

Under the scheme, operators a voluntary contribution of 7.5% of racing profits in exchange for a number of promotional benefits and commercial arrangements with British racecourses.

However, a new racing levy of 10% is set to be imposed on retail and online operators from April 2017, which would spell the end of the ABP scheme.