Virgin Bet and Arena Racing Company (ARC) are excited to announce the continuation of their partnership for a series of key meetings throughout 2024/25. In addition to Virgin Bet, the partnership also extends to fellow LiveScore Group brand LiveScore Bet.
As the largest racecourse operator in the UK, ARC hosts over 570 fixtures each year, with Virgin Bet-sponsored racedays serving as an essential part of the British horse racing calendar. The deal will see Virgin Bet sponsor a number of high-profile fixtures at Doncaster Racecourse.
The partnership will kick off with the historic Virgin Bet November Handicap at Doncaster on 9th November 2024, the exciting conclusion to the turf flat racing calendar in Britain. Additionally, this fixture will incorporate the continuation of Virgin Bet’s ‘Women’s Day’ event, which celebrates the contributions of women in the racing industry.
The sponsorship continues over jumps with the Virgin Bet Great Yorkshire Chase Meeting at Doncaster on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th January 2025, a winter highlight that remains a fan favourite.
Virgin Bet will also sponsor Doncaster’s Grimthorpe Chase Meeting on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd of March 2025. The two-day meeting attracts both top jockeys and horses with the feature race on Saturday, the Virgin Bet Grimthorpe Chase, widely regarded as a key trial for The Grand National.
As part of the sponsorship, Virgin Bet’s Personal Safety Partner, WalkSafe, will be integrated and available for all at each raceday.
Founded in 2020, WalkSafe was developed to give the public as much information about their surroundings as possible. The app, WalkSafe+, enables users to plan the safest route home, along with a host of additional features to help ensure a safer experience for all.
Racegoers at ARC races will be able to learn more about the innovative and free-to-download app at each Virgin-Bet sponsored race meet.
Dominic Vye, Marketing Director, Virgin Bet, said:
“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Arena Racing Company, sponsoring key racedays that represent some of the best British horse racing has to offer. We are excited to continue our commitment to honouring the rich traditions of horse racing and providing unforgettable experiences for fans.
“This year, for the first time, we have partnered with WalkSafe as part of our ‘Good Bet’ brand propositioning, and plan to give racegoers the knowledge and tools to ensure they can travel home from a racing venue safely.”
David Leyden Dunbar, ARC Director of Partnerships, added:
“The November Handicap, Great Yorkshire and Grimthorpe Chase meetings are highlights of the autumn and winter months at Doncaster, so we are delighted to extend Virgin Bet’s partnership with the Racecourse. Equally, we look forward to working with Virgin Bet to promote their positive initiatives designed to enhance the customer experience over the coming months, such as WalkSafe, which will increase the raceday experience for attendees.”
For more information, please visit: https://www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk/
ENDS.
About Virgin Bet:
Launched in May 2019, Virgin Bet™ is one of the UK’s fastest growing Sportsbooks and winner of 2021 SBC’s “Rising Star” award. With access to a huge range of betting markets across all the top sports, as well as the nation’s most popular casino products, Virgin Bet delivers a top-quality experience for its customers and has the perfect line-up to disrupt the sportsbook industry.
Virgin Bet fuses the values and principles of the Virgin master brand with the online gaming expertise of LiveScore Group to deliver a first-class customer experience.
VIRGIN and the Virgin Signature logo are trademarks of Virgin Enterprises Limited and are used under license.
About LiveScore Bet:
LiveScore Bet™, is a sportsbook offering customers in the UK, Ireland, Nigeria and the Netherlands a new and improved betting experience within the LiveScore ecosystem. Building on the existing user relationship with the trusted LiveScore brand that is already a core part of the live sport experience, LiveScore Bet seeks to deliver a best-in-class product and represents a new opportunity for customers to bet responsibly. LiveScore Bet has been able to emerge from the crowd with a vibrant personality, a world-class product and demonstrable growth that has set it apart from the chasing pack.
It is one of the fastest-growing sportsbooks in the UK and the recent winner of several prestigious industry awards including International Gaming Awards 2023 ‘Best Mobile Product of the Year’, EGR Operator 2022 ‘Rising Star’, SBC 2022 ‘Rising Star’, EGR Marketing Awards 2022 ‘Innovation in Sports Betting’.
About WalkSafe:
The innovative and free-to-download app WalkSafe+, founded by Emma Kay a dedicated advocate for personal safety, empowers users to plan their routes and stay safe while walking outside alone. Featuring journey sharing features and insights from community sources, WalkSafe also offers a unique ‘safe-spaces’ feature, providing users with the location for a place of refuge in times of distress or danger.
Journey planning and sharing features include:
- Safety Map – Helps people see the location of safety accredited venues across the UK, using interactive icons, so they can plan safer nights out.
- HomeSafe – Set a specific place and a specific time and share your journey plan with loved ones. If you don’t successfully complete your journey, your loved ones are notified. (This feature is non-location sharing).
- Follow Me – Walking the dog? Going for a run? Just wandering? Follow Me allows you to start a journey with no destination in mind. Simply select a length of time to share your location for and select friends to keep you safe then you’re good to go!
- WalkSafe journey sharing – Going somewhere? WalkSafe journeys allow you to share your location with your trusted friends. Your location will update in real-time allowing your loved ones to keep you safe on your journey.
About ARC:
Arena Racing Company (“ARC”) is the largest racecourse operator in the UK.
ARC is made up of the following sixteen racecourses: Bath, Brighton, Chepstow, Doncaster, Ffos Las, Fontwell Park, Great Yarmouth, Hereford, Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Royal Windsor, Sedgefield, Southwell, Uttoxeter, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
In addition to racecourses ARC owns CentralPark, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sunderland and Perry Barr Greyhound Stadia and looks after the media interests of the Greyhound Media Group (“GMG”).
ARC runs four of the six all-weather racecourses in the UK offering two different types of surface for horsesto run on: Polytrack at Lingfield Park and tapeta at Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton Racecourses –the only tapeta racing surfaces in Europe.
In 2013 ARC pioneered the All-Weather Championships which see horses compete throughout the winter for thechance of qualifying for Finals Day on Good Friday at Newcastle, and the All-Weather Vase at Lingfield Park.
ARC hosts racing at all levels of the sport from Class 6 through to Group 1s. Doncaster Racecourse is home to the world’s oldest Classic, the Betfred St Leger, run each year in September as part of the four-day Betfred St Leger Festival as well as the final Group 1 of the year in Britain, the Futurity Trophy. Feature jumps races include the Grade 1 BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle Racecourse, the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow Racecourse and Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter Racecourse.
As well as racing, ARC also operates a hotel at Wolverhampton Racecourse, a hotel and golf course at Lingfield Park and The Border Minstrel publichouse at Newcastle Racecourse in the grounds of Gosforth Park. The Hilton Garden Inn Doncaster Racecourse opened in September 2018.
ARC is a significant shareholder in the horseracing TV channel Sky Sports Racing which is broadcast on the Sky platform to c.14 million homes.4 | P a g e
ARC plays a pivotal role in British Racing. It is a shareholder in British Champions Series and Racecourse Data Company and is represented on the boards of the Racecourse Association (“RCA”), Great British Racing (“GBR”) and British Champion Series (“BCS”).
In 2015 ARC set up The Racing Partnership. This limited company represents the media rights of the 16 ARC owned-racecourses and the four independent racecourses Hexham, Newton Abbot, Plumpton and Ripon.
Further information about ARC can be found at www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk.