Opening the ‘shop window’ for business in the racing world

While bookmaker and former government minister Ivan Yates admitted taking bets in a well-known Dublin pub, he has insisted there was “no attempt to break the law”. In an interview on the eve of Cheltenham 2008 with Irish Examiner reporter Conor Kane, he explains why.

Q. It’s in relation to your Cheltenham preview nights. A lot of them take place in pubs, do you take bets at all those nights Ivan?

A. The situation is that, eh, we, we, we process them through the local shop. We have 60 shops around the place and what we do is the next day we process them all through the shop. Sometimes they come in and confirm the bet the next day and, you know, that’s the way it works.