World Pool Revenue for UK and Irish Racecourses Reported at £75m

World Pool revenue for British and Irish racecourses has passed £75m, according to European Gaming Industry News on 3 November 2026, extending a Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) pooled-betting programme that the Tote supports across 85 tracks in the UK and Ireland.

The reported figure follows a steady run of milestones. The Tote put the total at £65m in October 2025, and £50m was announced a year before that. For racecourses, World Pool is a revenue line tied to international betting volume rather than domestic punters alone.

How World Pool revenue reached £75m

World Pool combines bets from several markets into a single pool on selected races, which produces larger pools and, in principle, steadier dividends. The HKJC launched it at Royal Ascot in 2019. The Tote, the pool betting operator, is the pool partner to all 85 British and Irish racecourses, according to the UK Tote Group.

The table below sets out the milestones on record.

On those numbers, the latest step is about £10m, compared with £15m across 2025.

Turnover and customer returns in 2025

The most recent turnover data comes from the 2025 season. World Pool turnover in the UK and Ireland reached a season-long high of HK$5.1bn after British Champions Day, up 11.7% on HK$4.6bn in 2024, according to the UK Tote Group.

The Tote also published return comparisons for that season:

• Tote Win beat the Industry Starting Price (ISP), the benchmark fixed-odds price at the off, in 48% of races.
• Tote Exacta beat the Forecast, the bookmaker-style price for predicting first and second, in 73% of races.

These comparisons are a marketing point for the Tote against fixed-odds operators. They describe past results and do not predict dividends in any single race.

The 2026 World Pool calendar

British Racecourses, the industry body, listed 25 World Pool days for 2026, 18 of them in the UK and Ireland, covering 126 races. A fuller calendar adds more races to the pool, which is the mechanism behind growing turnover. Racecourses with a World Pool fixture take a share of the revenue generated.

The partnership model has a long history at Britain's showcase meetings. Earlier Gamingo News coverage reported that Ascot Racecourse and the Tote extended their partnership for five years in January 2024.

Tote leadership changes and the Irish regulatory backdrop

The Tote's news page lists a 6 October 2026 release headed "Tote strategy refocused to accelerate UK and international pool growth," alongside changes to its executive leadership. The Racing Post carried a headline that the chief executive, Alex Frost, was stepping down after nine years as part of a major restructure.

Ireland is also part of the World Pool footprint, and its regulatory environment continues to shape racing's commercial outlook. Gamingo News previously reported on how the Irish racing industry viewed the betting regulation bill's impact. The regulator has since opened, as covered in our report on the launch of Ireland's Gambling Regulatory Authority, and our earlier piece on Ireland's new gambling licences due to launch in mid-2026 explains the licensing timeline.

For racecourses, suppliers and pool operators, the practical question is whether the growth rate holds under new leadership and a refocused Tote strategy. The next full-season turnover figure, typically released after British Champions Day, will show whether the 2025 high of HK$5.1bn has been surpassed.

Status reviewed on 3 November 2026. Historical figures come from the UK Tote Group's 2025 release and Thoroughbred Daily News, and the £75m figure is as reported by European Gaming Industry News. More business news and EMEA coverage.