Entain has redesigned its flagship horse racing customer experience with the addition of a new Racing Bet Builder option.
Available to UK and Ireland players through the gambling plc’s Ladbrokes and Coral brands, the feature taps into the need for a fundamental change into the legacy British sport to attract and retain modern audiences.
Integrated into both online and retail channels, the Racing Bet Builder represents a “major step forward”, in Entain’s words, in the evolution of the sport. Entain is aiming to position the product of horse racing betting in a better position for the modern era.
For Entain, horseracing is a particularly important product for its Ladbrokes Coral retail chain, underpinning shop revenue and customer engagement, while also remaining key to the online experience. The product rollout comes ahead of a tough year for betting amidst political pressures and forthcoming tax raises.
Bet Builder evolution – from football to racing
Punters will be able to leverage the new proposition by creating their own personalised bet by selecting a number of different options and combining them into a single wager – essentially eliminating pre-set accumulators in favour of choosing the exact outcomes that a customer wants.
Similar to what is already on offer in other sports like football and tennis, the Racing Bet Builder will provide the same interactivity that has become popular thanks to the simplicity, flexibility and control it offers over the betting experience.
Adapting a betting product with origins in football betting to another sport is nothing new – bet builders themselves have been adopted from football into sports like rugby. Other examples include the ‘Super Sub’ format, which was adapted for use in horse racing by bet365 last year.
With Entain’s new product, markets on offer include win, race position, and winning distance – combined into one price. Each event’s odds update in real-time, reaching up to 100,000/1. New markets will also make their way on the Racing Bet Builder ahead of big racing festivals, Entain further confirmed.
The next major event on the UK racing calendar is the Dublin Racing Festival, which takes place on 31 January-1 February, followed by the even bigger Cheltenham Festival between 10-13 March.
Jamie Crossfield, Sportsbook Director at Entain UK, added: “The beauty of race day is the variety of outcomes – from underdog stories to photo finishes. Racing Bet Builder captures that excitement and gives customers more freedom to back their instincts. It’s a smarter, more satisfying way to bet on racing.”