Irish bookmaker BoyleSports has announced a new partnership with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Racecourses that will see the company renew its sponsorship of the Irish Grand National and become the official betting partner to the Leopardstown summer series of racing.
The high six-figure deal will span three years, with BoyleSports saying it demonstrated its commitment to Irish racing despite an uncertain regulatory outlook in light of the Gambling Regulation Bill’s expected enactment this year.
As well as adding the nine summer races at Leopardstown to its sponsorship portfolio, BoyleSports will sponsor the Grade Three Joe Mac Novice Hurdle at Tipperary Racecourse on “Super Sunday” in October and the Grade Two Webster Cup Chase at Navan Racecourse.
The deal ensures the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse remains the richest race on the Irish National Hunt calendar in 2024, with a prize fund of €500,000. As principal partner of the Fairyhouse Easter Festival, BoyleSports will also sponsor two additional races over the Easter weekend.
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“Racing is a big part of Ireland culturally but also economically, and so it would only make sense for us to continue and to make sure that we are playing our part and supporting that racing culture,” said BoyleSports chief executive Vlad Kaltenieks.
“With our new extended sponsorship as official betting partner to the summer series, we look forward to switching from a thrilling Easter Festival at Fairyhouse to a cracking summer of racing and entertainment at Leopardstown.”
HRI Racecourses, which owns and operates the Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, Navan and Tipperary Racecourses, is part of HRI, the commercial semistate body for thoroughbred racing, which has responsibility for the governance, development and promotion of the industry.
“The fact that BoyleSports is an Irish company is positive for us,” said HRI Racecourses chief executive Paul Dermody.
He described the extension of the partnership to Leopardstown, Tipperary and Navan as “a strong endorsement” of its relationship with the bookmaker. The deal follows its 2022 pouring rights agreement for all four racecourses with cider brand Bulmers, with which it initially had a music-related brand association at Leopardstown.
Mr Dermody said HRI had seen “a real bounce in awareness levels” in the wake of the Covid crisis. While racegoers at Leopardstown over the Christmas period typically trended younger than average, in recent years the age demographic of attendees at Fairyhouse, Galway and Punchestown has dropped, he added, with HRI recently introducing a WhatsApp ticket-selling facility in order to keep these customers engaged.
Some 30 HRI fixtures are broadcast free-to-air on RTÉ, with the remainder of the 395 total scheduled in 2024 available to watching on subscription channel Racing TV, which holds the rights until 2029.
Both Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing have threatened to leave the Irish television market if they do not get an exemption to the Gambling Regulation Bill’s proposed ban on gambling advertising between 5.30am and 9pm, arguing that if they don’t, it will make their businesses in Ireland unviable.
Dundalk-headquartered BoyleSports, which is Ireland’s largest independently owned bookmaker, has 2,700 employees across Ireland, the UK, South Africa and South America. The family-owned company was founded by John Boyle in 1982.
Mr Kaltenieks said he had been “open” about his stance towards the Gambling Regulation Bill.
“We welcome the Bill. It is great to see Ireland firmly on a path towards a regulated environment that is aiming to create a sustainable economy but also protect the vulnerable. I’ve also pointed out that certain provisions in the Bill are ambiguous or they are unworkable.”
Some of the proposed rules will encourage gamblers to “chase free bets” offered by unlicensed companies, he said.
“I think that the threat of black-market, unregulated operators is very real.”
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