Betfair goes live with South African Tote Betting

Betfair said that the ability to place tote bets on South African races was an added service for its customers and would assist in publicising South African horseracing internationally. Tote bets on South African races taken on the Betfair platform will be channelled into TAB pools hosted on Phumelela’s Amtote betting system in Johannesburg.

"The future of tote betting lies in the online environment and Betfair is a significant player in this market," said Phumelela’s Group CEO, Rian du Plessis. "Betfair are an extremely progressive operation. This matches our ambitions and consequently we are examining other areas of co-operation."

Steven Johnson, Betfair’s Head of Horse Racing Business Development, said: "This deal further underlines our commitment to the support of international racing. We now have tote betting on our site in four jurisdictions – South Africa, Ireland, Australia and the UK – and this partnership will send money back into South African racing both from our exchange and the Tote product."

PGE owns the media rights to thirty of the UK's leading racecourses including Cheltenham, Goodwood, Newmarket, Aintree, Newbury, Haydock and Kempton and also owns and manages Tellytrack, South African domestic horseracing TV channel.