Ladbrokes has buried its dispute with Turf TV by signing a deal to beam pictures from race meetings into its shops.

The deal was made only after Ladbrokes’ betting shops across the country had no coverage of the first two races from yesterday’s Cheltenham meeting, as Turf TV had exclusive rights to this meeting.

Turf TV is a new racing channel which has exclusive rights to many race meetings.  It is owned by a consortium including technology company Alphameric and 31 of the country’s racecourses.

Turf TV is a rival to SIS which is controlled by the big four bookmakers - William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred – and as a result, all four initially boycotted Turf TV.  Coral were the first to change their mind and signed up to Turf TV last month.  Turf TV’s exclusive rights to race meetings began yesterday and many bookmakers across the country had no television coverage of some of the race meetings.

After having no television coverage of some of the race meetings, Ladbrokes decided to strike up a deal with Turf TV.  It is thought the deal will cost Ladbrokes £12 million a year.

The agreement means Turf TV will be beamed into 6,500 betting shops owned by Ladbrokes in the UK and Ireland.

Takings are likely to fall at William Hill and Betfred as they have no television coverage of some race meetings which Turf TV exclusively own.  However, with Ladbrokes signing up to Turf TV, it is expected the two remaining bookmakers will also end their opposition to Turf TV by signing a deal.  It has been reported that both William Hill and Betfred will meet up for talks with Turf TV some time this week.

Ladbrokes’ deal with Turf TV looks set to be the end of this bitter dispute but it has been predicted that the betting industry will eventually reduce its sponsorship of racing.

The big race meeting on New Year’s Day was held in Cheltenham and customers in William Hill and Betfred betting shops were unable to see the first two and final races.  In the London Victoria Street branch of William Hill, a customer said, “Do they have pictures at Better?  I’m going there.”

Better is a rival bookmaker on the same street as the William Hill which has Turf TV.  Inside the shop, customer Irving Harris said, “I’m a Ladbrokes’ shareholder and I wrote to tell them to stop being so stupid.”

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