Arena Leisure confirms bid interest in the Tote

The UK’s largest horse racing operator today confirmed it had been involved in talks regarding an industry-wide bid for state-owned bookmaker the Tote.

Arena Leisure, which organises more than a quarter of the UK’s horse races, said it was part of the consortium which held preliminary discussions with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport over a possible bid for the Tote.

It said no terms had been agreed, although newspaper reports at the weekend suggested the bidding group was offering less than the £400m (€592m) that the government had been looking for.

As well as stock-market listed Arena, the consortium includes Racecourse Holdings Trust – the arm of the Jockey Club that owns Aintree and Cheltenham - and the Racecourse Owners Association.

Labour made a manifesto pledge before the last general election to sell the Tote, which relocated from Putney to Wigan last year and has 540 betting shops, to the racing industry.

Accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers has been working on the sale and is thought to have come up with the £400m valuation.

Failure of the consortium to meet this price tag has fuelled speculation that the Government could open up the sale to other bidders.

Early last year it was hoped it would be bought by the Racing Trust, which was made up of racecourses, owners, the British Horseracing Board, the BHB Industry Committee and the Jockey Club, but the move was blocked by the European Commission.

Although the country’s two largest bookies, Ladbrokes and William Hill, would be prevented from bidding on competition grounds, the next largest chain Gala Coral, is understood to be interested.

Tote operating profits fell 3.3% last year because of poor horse-racing results while turnover grew 16.9% as more punters gambled more money.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport confirmed a racing consortium had tabled an offer.

“We are talking to a racing consortium about the sale of the Tote for its full-market value,” she said but could not give further details. The government has never revealed the amount it is asking for the Tote.

Arena’s sites include the all-weather tracks at Lingfield Park, Wolverhampton and Southwell and the Royal Windsor, Worcester and Folkestone racecourses.