Selling off the Tote marks a race to the bottom for the sake of ideology | Neil Clark | Opinion | The Guardian Selling off the Tote marks a race to the bottom for the sake of ideology Britain's publicly-owned bookmaker keeps horseracing diverse. Without it, smaller courses would struggle to survive The Tote has been part of British horseracing since 1928. Photograph: Julian Herbert/Getty Images Tuesday 24 May 2011 17.00 EDT First published on Tuesday 24 May 2011 17.00 EDT Share on Messenger Close Sir Winston Churchill will be turning in his grave. For 83 years, the Tote, Britain's publicly-owned bookmaker, set up by Churchill when he was chancellor of the exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government in 1928, has been an integral part of the British horseracing scene. Now, however, the institution endearingly known as "the Nanny Goat" is to go the way of our railways, our buses and our utilities and be transferred to the private sector.

While free-market enthusiasts will no doubt be pleased to see a further shrinking of the state, the sale is likely to prove disastrous for a sport which employs more than 100,000 directly and indirectly, and which brings joy to millions of people's lives. The Tote is no ordinary bookmaker. When it was set up it was given a monopoly of on-course pool betting, with the proviso that its profits would be ploughed back into racing. Last year, the Tote put nearly £19m back into the sport and sponsored more than 700 races. Privately owned bookmaker Betfred – one of the two surviving bidders for the Tote, has said it would guarantee a minimum of £122m for racing during the seven-year period of the exclusive pool betting licence, and its rival, Sports Investment Partners, has pledged £11m per year for racing "in perpetuity" . But it's hard to see the same level of commitment to the sport coming from a privately owned Tote owner – eager to please shareholders and investors – as that which occurs at present.

It's largely because of the Tote and its generous support of horseracing that we have such diverse racing in Britain – with no fewer than 60 racetracks, ranging from grade one venues such as Cheltenham and Haydock, to cosy, intimate arenas like Kelso and Cartmel. At present the Tote effectively subsidises the smaller, less profitable tracks as it pays a percentage of the gross profits it makes on any day to every racecourse, even if it may make very little money there at all. John Heaton, a former Tote chief executive, fears that privatisation will lead to the tracks which generate the most pool-betting revenue demanding a bigger share. The danger is that racing could go the way of football when the Premier League was introduced – with a huge divide opening up between the bigger tracks and the smaller venues – many of whom, deprived of their Tote subsidy, would face a real fight for their existence. Heaton is not alone among senior racing figures in believing that the sale of the Tote should never have been contemplated.

The argument that the sale is urgently needed due to the dire state of the nation's finances is risible – the money the government is likely to raise from the sale – ranging from around £60m to £200m – could be less than what it has spent up to now on the military intervention in Libya. And with the betting industry growing all the time – operating profits for the Tote rose by 13% last year – the taxpayer will lose out in the long term. Like the sell-off of the railways, the sale of the Tote is a classic example of dogma overriding common sense, and further evidence that the coalition is more extreme in its ardour for privatisation than even Margaret Thatcher. For all of the Thatcher years, the Tote chairman was the former Labour MP Woodrow Wyatt, a keen racing man who boosted the profile of the organisation. Selling the Tote entered the political agenda under New Labour, but while Blair and Brown dithered on the issue for a decade, the coalition has, regrettably, shown no such indecision. And it showed its true colours by dismissing a racing-backed initiative to set up a Tote Charitable Foundation, to avoid the Tote's sale to the private sector.

Disappointingly, leftwing opposition to the sale has been muted. Perhaps it's because some on the left regard gambling as somehow sinful, and that while it's right and proper for hospitals, schools and the Royal Mail to be publicly owned, having a state-owned bookmaker doesn't really matter. Or maybe some agree with Harry Pollitt, the former leader of the Communist party, who argued that we would have had a revolution in Britain long ago if it hadn't been for horseracing. But unless we are going to abolish racing and gambling altogether – and only the more extreme animal rights groups and religious fundamentalists would go that far – then a publicly owned bookmaker with a strong commitment to supporting the sport is essential. There are not many things in modern Britain that are truly world-class: horseracing is one of them. But the free-market Maois ts currently occupying the corridors of power seem determined to wreck a much-loved institution that has carried out its duties in support of racing perfectly well for the best part of a century. Totesport Bookmaker Review - Is It Just For Horse Racing?

2.5 Star Rating Overall 4.5 / 5 Totesport Bookmaker Review Totesport is the online and offline trading brand of the Tote, a bookmaker that the British government owned from its formation in 1928 until its sale to Betfred 83 years later. The Racecourse Betting Act created the Racehorse Betting Control Board as a statutory corporation. Legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill set up what became known as the Tote during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1920s, with the purpose of the new entity to provide a safe, state-controlled alternative to illegal bookmakers and, also, ensure that thoroughbred horse racing received a generous slice of the wagering action in the form of a levy. The first British thoroughbred racing meetings with tote betting took place in Carlisle and Newmarket in 1929 and today the Tote is the only British company that is allowed to run pool gambling on the Sport of Kings.

For decades the Tote was synonymous with horses but, with sports wagering exploding in the United Kingdom during the 1990s and globally shortly thereafter, the organisation developed the Totesport brand to trade on its heritage but also say that it offered a full service. The sports section of the website, which one has to navigate to via a splash page promoting the full range of the Tote’s services, including pool betting, is biased towards a select group of sports, with horse racing , football , golf and tennis getting top billing and everything else part of an A to Z index. The horses really are Totesport’s strength, with British racing newspaper Racing Post powering many features on its website, including jockey form, trainer form, horse trends, breeding statistics, racecourse statistics and daily expert tips. Live or in-play action is showcased very prominently and, just as importantly, very attractively on the website, servicing as a strong call to action when one is looking for an event or two on which to bet impulsively. Totesport does not have a device-specific app but it does have a mobile-friendly version of its website.

In the rest of this review we will look at their wagering options, its bonuses, its security and licensing, how it treats professional and recreational punters and its banking practices, before providing an executive summary. Sporting Options Thoroughbred horse racing is king, with the bookmaker being in the unique position among British firms of offering both fixed-odds and pool gambling on the sport. The manner in which Totesport presents its racing products is first class and no other United Kingdom-facing bookmaker comes close to matching its product range. It’s focused on the British and Irish market so football is another sport on which it places a great deal of emphasis. Although Totesport’s football options will satisfy the average punter, there is no arguing that there are superior football gambling services out there, ones that offer juicier odds and a greater number of markets per game. And once one heads off the beaten track and goes searching for markets on, for the want of a better phrase, second-tier sports, Totesport disappoints with a narrower range than one has come to expect from other bookmakers. Bonuses Totesport has an offer for new clients but it would be wrong to label it as special.

One has to sign up and bet either five British pounds or five euros in order to get a free bet worth either 10 British pounds or 10 euros. Compared to other incentives online, the offer is really not exciting. Of the terms and conditions attached, it is worth noting that residents of Poland, Portugal and Romania are ineligible to receive the free bet. Security and Licensing Totesport is licensed and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, making it one of the few big British bookmakers that does not operate, online at least, out of a more tax-favourable jurisdiction such as Gibraltar, south of Spain. The sportsbook is part of Betfred, which is the world’s biggest owner-operator bookmaker with a retail estate of more than 1,350 shops. Betfred has been in business since 1967, so using its Totesport arm is a safe practice. Professional Versus Recreational Punters Totesport’s pool service on thoroughbred racing is what appeals to professional punters, particularly when the organisation’s flagship bet, Scoop6, rolls over for several weeks and the pot reaches several million British pounds.

Well known British punters Harry Findlay and Patrick Veitch have – pardon the pun – scooped the pot since they launched Scoop6 in 1999. According to Findlay, who was the joint owner of Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman, Scoop6 is a genius product and Totesport’s greatest invention. By and large, however, this is a bookmaker that is best suited to recreational punters who like to bet on mainstream sport events and live somewhere in the British Isles. Banking Practices Totesport accepts customers from all four corners of the world – the United States of America is one of its few barred territories – but its facilitation of accounts in only two currencies – British pounds and euros – is a major barrier to entry for people located outside Europe. Banking options include Skrill (Moneybookers) et al so one can bet in, say, euros, by using a third party to convert currencies but one would be hit by any number of foreign currency conversion fees. The simplest thing to do for anyone whose home currency is neither British pounds nor euros is to open an account with another online bookmaker.

executive Summary Totesport is a must for anyone based in the British Isles who loves gambling on horses and the most popular sports such as football, golf and tennis. Its pool products are ace and unobtainable anywhere else. But punters who live outside of Ireland and the United Kingdom and do not like the Sport of Kings should look elsewhere. | Totesport Bookmaker Review - Is It Just For Horse Racing? Totesport Bookmaker Review Totesport is the online and offline trading brand of the Tote, a bookmaker that the British government owned from its formation in 1928 until its sale to Betfred 83 years later. The Racecourse Betting Act created the Racehorse Betting Control Board as a statutory corporation. Legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill set up what became known as the Tote during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1920s, with the purpose of the new entity to provide a safe, state-controlled alternative to illegal bookmakers and, also, ensure that thoroughbred horse racing received a generous slice of the wagering action in the form of a levy.

The first British thoroughbred racing meetings with tote betting took place in Carlisle and Newmarket in 1929 and today the Tote is the only British company that is allowed to run pool gambling on the Sport of Kings. For decades the Tote was synonymous with horses but, with sports wagering exploding in the United Kingdom during the 1990s and globally shortly thereafter, the organisation developed the Totesport brand to trade on its heritage but also say that it offered a full service. The sports section of the website, which one has to navigate to via a splash page promoting the full range of the Tote’s services, including pool betting, is biased towards a select group of sports, with horse racing , football , golf and tennis getting top billing and everything else part of an A to Z index. The horses really are Totesport’s strength, with British racing newspaper Racing Post powering many features on its website, including jockey form, trainer form, horse trends, breeding statistics, racecourse statistics and daily expert tips.

Live or in-play action is showcased very prominently and, just as importantly, very attractively on the website, servicing as a strong call to action when one is looking for an event or two on which to bet impulsively. Totesport does not have a device-specific app but it does have a mobile-friendly version of its website. In the rest of this review we will look at their wagering options, its bonuses, its security and licensing, how it treats professional and recreational punters and its banking practices, before providing an executive summary. Sporting Options Thoroughbred horse racing is king, with the bookmaker being in the unique position among British firms of offering both fixed-odds and pool gambling on the sport. The manner in which Totesport presents its racing products is first class and no other United Kingdom-facing bookmaker comes close to matching its product range. It’s focused on the British and Irish market so football is another sport on which it places a great deal of emphasis. Although Totesport’s football options will satisfy the average punter, there is no arguing that there are superior football gambling services out there, ones that offer juicier odds and a greater number of markets per game.

And once one heads off the beaten track and goes searching for markets on, for the want of a better phrase, second-tier sports, Totesport disappoints with a narrower range than one has come to expect from other bookmakers. Bonuses Totesport has an offer for new clients but it would be wrong to label it as special. One has to sign up and bet either five British pounds or five euros in order to get a free bet worth either 10 British pounds or 10 euros. Compared to other incentives online, the offer is really not exciting. Of the terms and conditions attached, it is worth noting that residents of Poland, Portugal and Romania are ineligible to receive the free bet. Security and Licensing Totesport is licensed and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, making it one of the few big British bookmakers that does not operate, online at least, out of a more tax-favourable jurisdiction such as Gibraltar, south of Spain. The sportsbook is part of Betfred, which is the world’s biggest owner-operator bookmaker with a retail estate of more than 1,350 shops. Betfred has been in business since 1967, so using its Totesport arm is a safe practice.

Professional Versus Recreational Punters Totesport’s pool service on thoroughbred racing is what appeals to professional punters, particularly when the organisation’s flagship bet, Scoop6, rolls over for several weeks and the pot reaches several million British pounds. Well known British punters Harry Findlay and Patrick Veitch have – pardon the pun – scooped the pot since they launched Scoop6 in 1999. According to Findlay, who was the joint owner of Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman, Scoop6 is a genius product and Totesport’s greatest invention. By and large, however, this is a bookmaker that is best suited to recreational punters who like to bet on mainstream sport events and live somewhere in the British Isles. Banking Practices Totesport accepts customers from all four corners of the world – the United States of America is one of its few barred territories – but its facilitation of accounts in only two currencies – British pounds and euros – is a major barrier to entry for people located outside Europe.

Banking options include Skrill (Moneybookers) et al so one can bet in, say, euros, by using a third party to convert currencies but one would be hit by any number of foreign currency conversion fees. The simplest thing to do for anyone whose home currency is neither British pounds nor euros is to open an account with another online bookmaker. executive Summary Totesport is a must for anyone based in the British Isles who loves gambling on horses and the most popular sports such as football, golf and tennis. Its pool products are ace and unobtainable anywhere else. But punters who live outside of Ireland and the United Kingdom and do not like the Sport of Kings should look elsewhere. | Totesport Bookmaker Review - Is It Just For Horse Racing? Written by: Eric Roberts Totesport Bookmaker Review Totesport is the online and offline trading brand of the Tote, a bookmaker that the British government owned from its formation in 1928 until its sale to Betfred 83 years later. The Racecourse Betting Act created the Racehorse Betting Control Board as a statutory corporation.

Legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill set up what became known as the Tote during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1920s, with the purpose of the new entity to provide a safe, state-controlled alternative to illegal bookmakers and, also, ensure that thoroughbred horse racing received a generous slice of the wagering action in the form of a levy. The first British thoroughbred racing meetings with tote betting took place in Carlisle and Newmarket in 1929 and today the Tote is the only British company that is allowed to run pool gambling on the Sport of Kings. For decades the Tote was synonymous with horses but, with sports wagering exploding in the United Kingdom during the 1990s and globally shortly thereafter, the organisation developed the Totesport brand to trade on its heritage but also say that it offered a full service. The sports section of the website, which one has to navigate to via a splash page promoting the full range of the Tote’s services, including pool betting, is biased towards a select group of sports, with horse racing , football , golf and tennis getting top billing and everything else part of an A to Z index.

The horses really are Totesport’s strength, with British racing newspaper Racing Post powering many features on its website, including jockey form, trainer form, horse trends, breeding statistics, racecourse statistics and daily expert tips. Live or in-play action is showcased very prominently and, just as importantly, very attractively on the website, servicing as a strong call to action when one is looking for an event or two on which to bet impulsively. Totesport does not have a device-specific app but it does have a mobile-friendly version of its website. In the rest of this review we will look at their wagering options, its bonuses, its security and licensing, how it treats professional and recreational punters and its banking practices, before providing an executive summary. Sporting Options Thoroughbred horse racing is king, with the bookmaker being in the unique position among British firms of offering both fixed-odds and pool gambling on the sport. The manner in which Totesport presents its racing products is first class and no other United Kingdom-facing bookmaker comes close to matching its product range. It’s focused on the British and Irish market so football is another sport on which it places a great deal of emphasis.

Although Totesport’s football options will satisfy the average punter, there is no arguing that there are superior football gambling services out there, ones that offer juicier odds and a greater number of markets per game. And once one heads off the beaten track and goes searching for markets on, for the want of a better phrase, second-tier sports, Totesport disappoints with a narrower range than one has come to expect from other bookmakers. Bonuses Totesport has an offer for new clients but it would be wrong to label it as special. One has to sign up and bet either five British pounds or five euros in order to get a free bet worth either 10 British pounds or 10 euros. Compared to other incentives online, the offer is really not exciting. Of the terms and conditions attached, it is worth noting that residents of Poland, Portugal and Romania are ineligible to receive the free bet. Security and Licensing Totesport is licensed and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, making it one of the few big British bookmakers that does not operate, online at least, out of a more tax-favourable jurisdiction such as Gibraltar, south of Spain.

The sportsbook is part of Betfred, which is the world’s biggest owner-operator bookmaker with a retail estate of more than 1,350 shops. Betfred has been in business since 1967, so using its Totesport arm is a safe practice. Professional Versus Recreational Punters Totesport’s pool service on thoroughbred racing is what appeals to professional punters, particularly when the organisation’s flagship bet, Scoop6, rolls over for several weeks and the pot reaches several million British pounds. Well known British punters Harry Findlay and Patrick Veitch have – pardon the pun – scooped the pot since they launched Scoop6 in 1999. According to Findlay, who was the joint owner of Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman, Scoop6 is a genius product and Totesport’s greatest invention. By and large, however, this is a bookmaker that is best suited to recreational punters who like to bet on mainstream sport events and live somewhere in the British Isles.

Banking Practices Totesport accepts customers from all four corners of the world – the United States of America is one of its few barred territories – but its facilitation of accounts in only two currencies – British pounds and euros – is a major barrier to entry for people located outside Europe. Banking options include Skrill (Moneybookers) et al so one can bet in, say, euros, by using a third party to convert currencies but one would be hit by any number of foreign currency conversion fees. The simplest thing to do for anyone whose home currency is neither British pounds nor euros is to open an account with another online bookmaker. executive Summary Totesport is a must for anyone based in the British Isles who loves gambling on horses and the most popular sports such as football, golf and tennis. Its pool products are ace and unobtainable anywhere else. But punters who live outside of Ireland and the United Kingdom and do not like the Sport of Kings should look elsewhere. 2.5/5 / 5 stars Shrink the state: David Cameron and Nick Clegg complete Margaret Thatcher's task | Royal Mail News | The Week UK email Getty Images IT ALL started on a late spring day back in 1979.

Delivering his very first Budget, Geoffrey Howe, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Margaret Thatcher's new Conservative administration, announced the government's support for "sales of state-owned assets to the private sector" and that "the scope for sale of assets is substantial". Very few people listening to Howe's speech that day could have envisaged just what the government's privatisation programme would lead to. Or that, 34 years on, we'd be witnessing the wholesale outsourcing to private companies of our probation service, set up in 1907. Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, says that he hopes his new plans, announced yesterday, will lead to a "steady year-by-year decline" in re-offending rates. But make no mistake - this is an ideological move, and part of the Tory mission to finish the radical 'shrink the state' economic project began by Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Thatcher was set on destroying the genuinely progressive mixed-economy post-war model, which a succession of Labour and Conservative governments had supported prior to 1979. Influenced by free-market thinkers, she wanted to roll back the frontiers of the state and allow private companies to take over the roles carried out by public corporations.

In the period 1979-97 we saw the sell-off of numerous public enterprises, including the gas, electricity and water industries, the railways and buses and much of our national infrastructure. Under New Labour, there were no major new privatisations, though the role of the private sector was increased by outsourcing. Now, with the Conservatives in coalition with similarly pro-privatisation Orange Book Liberals, it's full steam ahead to complete Maggie's ambitious project. Don't fall for the line that 'public sector reforms' - a euphemism for privatisation and outsourcing - are necessary to cut the deficit. The deficit is being used as a convenient excuse to carry out further diminution of the state's role. In other words, even if our public finances weren't in the red, the sell-offs and outsourcing would still be taking place. "Public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service," David Cameron wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 2011. "Of course, there are some areas, like national security services or the judiciary, where this wouldn't make sense. But everywhere else should be open to real diversity, open to everyone who gets and values the importance of our public service ethos.

This is a transformation: it ends the state's monopoly over public services." Lest you think this just a Tory argument, here is Nick Clegg in 2008 criticising Gordon Brown for not opening up public services to non-state providers: "We have nationalised education, nationalised health, and nationalised welfare: run by inflexible, centralised monopolies. It adds up to the nationalisation of our whole lives." The coalition had only been in power for six months when they sold the Channel Tunnel Rail link to Canadian pension funds. In June 2011, they sold the Tote, the publicly-owned bookmaker set up by Winston Churchill in 1928. Privatisation of the police is well under way, while the coalition's controversial Health and Social Care Act opens the door for the privatisation of the NHS. Our jails are going private too: in October 2011, HMP Birmingham became the first publicly owned prison to be privatised. Last November, Chris Grayling announced the privatisation of five more.

In 2013, we are likely to see the sell-off of the Royal Mail, in state hands since its inception in 1516, while David Cameron has even mooted the idea of allowing private firms and investment funds to build, operate and maintain Britain's most important roads. It's de rigueur to describe the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as an 'ideologue', but if we're looking for genuine, hardcore ideologues we don't need to travel to Latin America to find them. The support of leading members of the coalition for 'progressive' measures such as same-sex marriage shouldn't blind us to the fact that we are governed by a bunch of ideological, uber-Thatcherite extremists, hell-bent on destroying state provision. Does all of this really matter? Yes it does, because the transfer of the entire public sector (with the exception of national security services and the judiciary) to private companies will mean us paying much more for more basic services - as we already do with the railways, buses and our gas, water and electricity bills.

We should also not forget that the much-maligned mixed economy post-war model delivered to ordinary working-class Britons a major rise in living standards and an improvement in their relative position, whereas since 1979, it's been the one per cent who have been the major beneficiaries. In short, 'shrinking the state' is bad news for the majority, while for the likes of G4S and Capita, and the City of London backers of the Conservative Party, it's one big financial bonanza. Sign up for our daily newsletter Newsletter Tote gambles on punter loyalty in raising 'win' pool takeout by 22% • Managing director Siers claims pools will become more robust<br />• Former chairman Peter Jones deplores decision -<p>The payouts from successful win bets on the Tote will diminish significantly later this month, following a decision by the recently privatised pool-betting business to increase the deduction from its win pools by 22% from 22 October.</p><p>Totepool, which currently holds a monopoly licence to operate pool betting in Britain, was sold to the bookmaker Fred Done for £265m in June 2011.

The company said on Tuesday that the sudden jump in the deductions from its win pools, from 13.5% to 16.5%, is designed to encourage "co-mingling" of bets from overseas punters in British pools to increase their overall strength and stability. There will also be a small cut in the deduction from two pools, the Exacta and Trifecta, from 26% to 25%.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Racing needs to grow up and do business with a Fred Done-owned Tote The sport's ruling bodies, who managed to back the loser in a two-horse race, must face reality<p>In a sense it seems fitting that a process beset by false hopes and broken promises for a decade or more should conclude with racing flushed by embarrassment. It came down to a two-horse race to own the Tote, and there was no need to get involved, but racing's leaders still decided to walk up to the betting window and stake what credibility they had left on one of the rival bids.

With grim predictability it lost.</p><p>It is pointless to spend much time going into the miserable history of the sale of the Tote, of how a process that started out with a proposal to transfer the ownership of the whole operation to a racing trust turned into the sale of a nationalised asset. Of how the EU got involved and how racing offered £320m, significantly more than Fred Done's winning bid, several years ago, only to be told that the Treasury – apparently staffed by people who do not know the deal of the century when they see it - wanted £400m instead. And then how it all came down to a speculative bid from City people versus a more solid offer from a bookmaker, and racing weighed in with its City mates because it could not bear to do business with a bookie.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Sale of the Tote: High stakes | Editorial For all its familiarity, this year's Derby day marks the end of a long, beneficial partnership<p>Upwards of a hundred thousand people will gather on Epsom Downs today for the Investec Derby, one of the world's great horse races.

Even for those who cannot make it, the 232nd Derby remains a splendid national excursion, a day of picnics and punters and the Queen cheering on <a href="" title="">her horse</a> in (another) attempt to become the first reigning monarch since 1909 to own the winner.</p><p>But for all its familiarity, this year's Derby day marks the end of a long, beneficial partnership. The Tote was founded in 1928 by chancellor (and ex-cavalry officer) <a href="" title="Winston Churchill">Winston Churchill</a> to generate money for the racing industry, a move justified in a world where traditionalists still thought the horse had a role in warfare. Although its contribution to racing was overshadowed later by the levy introduced on all betting, the Tote still invests millions each year in racecourses and what has become the multimillion-pound racing industry.

Now it is to be sold, in an operation that – while it might matter less – looks as ill-thought-through as many of the coalition's other essays in privatisation.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Fri, 03 Jun 2011 04:02:23 GMT Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images Fred Done, the owner of bookmaking firm Betfred, which has been chosen to take over the Tote. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images Fred Done, the owner of bookmaking firm Betfred, which has been chosen to take over the Tote. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images Press Association 2011-06-03T04:02:23Z Selling off the Tote marks a race to the bottom for the sake of ideology | Neil Clark Britain's publicly-owned bookmaker keeps horseracing diverse. Without it, smaller courses would struggle to survive<p>Sir Winston Churchill will be turning in his grave.

For&nbsp;83 years, the Tote, Britain's publicly-owned bookmaker, set up by Churchill when he was chancellor of the exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government in 1928, has been an integral part of the British horseracing scene.

Now, however, the institution endearingly known as "the Nanny Goat" is to go the way of our railways, our buses and our utilities and be transferred to the private sector.</p><p>While free-market enthusiasts will no doubt be pleased to see a further shrinking of the state, the sale is likely to prove disastrous for a sport which employs more than 100,000 directly and indirectly, and which brings joy to millions of people's lives.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Betfred makes final push for Tote offer as MPs consider rival bids Betfred founder Fred Done says his offer would make £113m for Treasury, 'strengthen UK racing' and support growth and jobs<p>Bookmaker Betfred has made a final push to win backing for its £200m cash bid for the Tote arguing the rival offer for the state-owned bookmaker is based on "smoke and mirror" promises.</p><p>Betfred's founder and chairman, Fred Done, is slugging it out with Sir Martin Broughton, former British Airways chairman, in what has come down to a two-horse race after years of aborted sell-offs.

Broughton's Sports Investment Partners vehicle argues its plan to seek a £200m stock exchange listing will deliver a "significantly higher" windfall for taxpayers.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Sir Martin Broughton insists plan for Tote offers biggest benefit for taxpayer Sports Investment Partners seeks to undermine Betfred's £200m offer for Tote with 'guaranteed' £11m a year for racing industry<p>Sir Martin Broughton, the former chairman of the British Horseracing Board, has insisted his bid to privatise state-owned bookmaker the Tote through a stock market flotation would save more jobs and generate a "significantly higher" windfall for the taxpayer than a <a href="" title="Guardian: Betfred proposal for Tote">rival takeover proposal </a>from bookmaker Betfred.</p><p>In a letter to MPs, Broughton, who is also deputy chairman of the company behind British Airways, delivered a last-ditch pitch for support – but stopped short of revealing how much his vehicle Sports Investment Partners would generate for the chancellor's much depleted coffers.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Tote

 bidders remain unidentified after government volte-face • Racing promised 50% of net proceeds from sale<br />• Royal College issues charge sheet against Moonlit Path vet<p>The identity of the next owner of the Tote, the state-owned betting operation, is no closer to being confirmed after the government failed to publish a shortlist of preferred candidates, despite strong suggestions that 18 expressions of firm interest would be whittled down to four or five serious runners.

However, racing received confirmation that, whatever the size of the winning bid, the coalition government will honour the promise of its predecessor to give 50% of the proceeds to the sport.</p><p>Existing betting businesses believed to be in the running include BetFred and Coral, while Andy Stewart, a leading racehorse owner, Martin Broughton, the former chairman of Liverpool FC, and Chris Bell, the former chief executive of Ladbrokes, are all believed to be associated with separate bids for the pool betting business and its 540 shops.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Levy debate under starter's orders in parliament • Newmarket MP to open three-hour debate<br />• Focus on future of horse racing and betting levy<p>Racing's long search for a stable source of funds from off-course betting will be the subject of a three-hour debate in parliament today, when Matthew Hancock MP, whose constituency includes Newmarket, will tell the House of Commons that the industry needs a commercially-based mechanism similar to that which governs intellectual property rights.</p><p>Hancock, who secured the debate last week and will open proceedings, said on Wednesday that the presence of John Penrose MP, a minister at the Department for Culture

, Media and Sport, "will be crucial because he will be able to answer all the points that are made".</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Government to announce plans on offshore bookmakers by March • Companies would have to comply with Gambling Act<br />• No decision made about contributions to Levy<p>The government is likely to take action on offshore betting operators by the end of March, it has emerged.

In the wake of revelations that the state-owned Tote is planning to offer bookmakers the opportunity to take pool bets via an offshore hub, the government is expected to unveil its plans to license offshore bookmakers within the next two months.</p><p>A year ago the previous Labour government proposed that all overseas bookmakers – including the internet arms of betting giants such as William Hill and Ladbrokes that have moved offshore to avoid paying the Levy and taxes – should be licensed by the Gambling Commission.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Government's bookmaker Tote plans to avoid tax by moving bets offshore • Some business will be filtered through Channel Island outpost<br />• British Horseracing Authority condemned the Tote's plans<p>The Tote, the government-owned bookmaker, is braced for a backlash over plans to move a portion of its business offshore and reduce its tax liabilities in the process.

Despite being fully state-owned and operated since its foundation in 1928, the Tote yesterday admitted it plans to filter bets placed with third-party, offshore bookmakers through its Guernsey outpost in a move that would sidestep income tax.</p><p>The Tote operates through a pool betting system, where punters contribute to a central prize fund, and it allows customers of other bookmakers to bet into Tote markets.

Negotiations are well advanced with a number of bookmakers to begin directing those wagers into central Tote pools via an offshore hub.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Tote Government confirms it will seek bidders for Tote in late autumn • British Horseracing Authority welcomes minister's statement<br />• Update on progress of sale expected early in the new year<p>The future of the Tote, which operates a pool-betting monopoly in the United Kingdom and passes its profits to racing, moved a step closer to being resolved today when John Penrose, the tourism and heritage minister, said that the government will seek bids for the business this autumn.</p><p>George Osborne, the chancellor, announced in his Budget in June that it is his intention to secure a future for the Tote which "secures value for the taxpayer" while also recognising the contribution that the Tote makes to racing.

In a written statement to parliament, Penrose said that "in line with that objective, the government is now preparing to launch an open market process in the late autumn in which it will invite proposals from interested parties.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing After a decade of false dawns does the Tote sale really matter? Following a decade of false dawns does the Tote sale really matter for racing when pool betting is so difficult to sell<p>Does the ownership of the Tote matter? If you are one of the 650 staff at its Wigan HQ, or work in one of its 540 betting shops or behind a window on racedays, then clearly the answer is yes, very much. But is it still of over-riding importance for racing? After 10 years of broken promises and false dawns, does anyone still care?</p><p>There are plenty of people in the bookmaking industry who do, and yesterday's announcement that the government will, to put it crudely, flog off the Tote for the best bid it gets will flush them out.

Never mind that the business was only taken into state ownership in the first place so that it could be passed on to a racing trust. The government needs the cash, and the plans and promises of the last administration are worthless.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Tote must keep punters up to speed on £1m Scoop6 bet | Will Hayler Big and small punters alike need accurate information now firm's flagship wager is taking off<p>Saturday's win fund for the Tote Scoop6 bet will be well over the £1m mark after rolling over for the sixth consecutive time last Saturday.

A carry-over of this size attracts considerable interest.</p><p>But while small punters such as Agnes Haddock, the ironing lady who won £688,620 for a £2 stake in 2007 may give the Tote the publicity the bet thrives on, it is the big punters who invest the bulk of the money each week and it is vital that they have full confidence in the treatment of their investments.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing The Tote's future was suffocated by New Labour greed and incompetence The government's indecision and incompetence killed off the Tote's best hope. Perhaps Betfair can help rescue the situation<p>An initial reaction to the news that the Tote will be part of a car boot sale by the Government designed to raise £16bn was to wonder where the other £15.95bn will come from.</p><p>It may have 540 betting shops, a decent internet business and a monopoly on pool betting - for a few more years, at any rate - but the Tote is still worth only what someone is willing to pay.

Since the obvious candidates - bookies who covet the shops - are all suffering various degrees of hardship at this nadir of the economic cycle, it is quite possible that no serious bids will emerge at all.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Bookmakers express interest but sale of the Tote faces heavy going • Ladbrokes says its interest depends on 'structure of the deal'<br />• Vince Cable says Tote sale plans have suffered many 'false starts'<p>Ladbrokes and Paddy Power were among&nbsp;the existing betting operators to express interest in acquiring the Tote today following confirmation that the&nbsp;state-owned business, which runs betting shops and on-course pool betting, will be sold along with a number of other public assets.</p><p>The Tote has been identified as a source of funds to help balance the government's books, along with the Dartford crossing, outstanding student debts and surplus real estate.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Racing must get Tote government sale cash, demands leading owner • Government set to sell the Tote to raise funds<br />• Paul Dixon says racing is due half of any proceeds<p>Horse racing must enjoy some of the benefit if the

 Tote is sold off, a leading figure in the sport said last night.

Paul Dixon, chairman of the Racehorse Owners' Association, reminded the government that a pledge had been made to pass half of the proceeds of any sale to the sport.</p><p>His words followed the news last night that the Tote, which has a monopoly on pool betting, is to be sold as part of £16bn sale of government assets in an attempt to restore stability to public finances. Gordon Brown is expected to announce the measures tomorrow, when other assets expected to be marked for disposal will include the Channel tunnel rail link.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Horse racing Flexi bets could put Tote and punters on to a winner | Will Hayler A clever way of simplifying complex wagers can help the pool operation ride out a difficult time<p>Of all the groups within racing feeling the financial pinch, few have to air their dirty laundry as publicly as the Tote.

As a result of the pool operation's open-book accounting policy, we know that on-course pool betting has been hit hard by the lack of cash in the pocket of the casual racegoer and more particularly by the sharp decline in corporate hospitality sales.</p><p>Big-spending box-bound punters have, for some years, helped sustain Tote pools at healthy levels by using the strategically-placed outlets. On average, Tote pools at the major meetings are down 15% year-on-year, particularly disappointing given that the Tote's profits are – as they must continue to emphasise – invested in the sport.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Sport betting Morning Star :: CAMERON’S TRACK RECORD – A SMALL REMINDER | The People’s Daily CAMERON’S TRACK RECORD – A SMALL REMINDER posted by Morning Star in Features The PM likes to present himself as a ‘compassionate Tory’ but his actions in office show him to be a privatisation fanatic, writes NEIL CLARK REMEMBER when David Cameron was elected as Conservative leader in the autumn of 2005?

Back then he was portrayed by his supporters in the elite media clique as a moderate “one nation” Tory — a man who was going to deliver “compassionate conservatism” and move “the nasty party” away from Thatcherism. But, as I pointed out in a newspaper article which went very much against the tide in October 2005, there was nothing moderate about “Dave” or his policies. Cameron’s extremism in office can be seen quite clearly in many areas, and not least in his zeal for privatisation. The Con-Dem coalition which Cameron has led has been the most fanatically pro-privatisation government in our country’s history — privatising things which even Margaret Thatcher decided were best kept in public ownership. With a general election looming, let’s remind ourselves of some of the national assets and public services which have been sold off in the past five years under the Con-Dems and how much British taxpayers have been short-changed by these sales. Keep this article handy in case a canvasser from one of the coalition parties appears on your doorstep in the next few weeks asking for your support. Neil Clark is the director of the Campaign for Public Ownership ( Twitter@PublicOwnership).

You can also follow him on Twitter @NeilClark66. ROYAL MAIL HE country’s mail delivery service had been in state hands since its inception in 1516. But Cameron, the so-called “conservative,” didn’t care too much about our national heritage when there was a chance to further enrich his fat-cat supporters in the City. Some 60 per cent of the Royal Mail was sold off for a paltry £2 billion in October 2013 — after the government had already transferred to the taxpayer the company’s £8.4bn pension fund deficit. Shares leapt by 38 per cent on the first day of trading, showing the company had been greatly undervalued. The National Audit Office reported that the government’s actions had cost the taxpayer £750 million in a single day. One of the “investors” to make a killing on the Royal Mail sale was a hedge fund company called Lansdowne Partners — which saw its £50m stake rise by £36m by April 2014.

On the management committee of Lansdowne Partners was a certain Peter Davies, who just happened to be the best man at Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s wedding, while Lansdowne’s former CEO Paul Ruddock was awarded a knighthood in 2012 having donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party. The Royal Mail sell-off was a double whammy for the taxpayer as not only was the company undervalued but post-privatisation, stamp prices were raised in 2014 and raised again last month. NHS CAMERON pledged before the 2010 election that there’d be “no more top-down restructures of the NHS” but his government has introduced the most radical top-down changes to the NHS in its history. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 has enabled large-scale privatisation of NHS services. Only last month, the private sector was given its largest ever NHS contract — an £780m deal for 11 private companies to provide a range of health services including X-rays and operations. Even the NHS blood plasma supplier has been sold — to a US private equity firm founded by far-right US presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

EAST COAST THE public wants our railways renationalised. Cameron and his fellow ideologues in government thought they weren’t privatised enough. The East Coast Main Line was run by publicly owned company Directly Operated Railways after its private operator National Express defaulted on the franchise in 2009. The line was a great success in public ownership — with high levels of passenger satisfaction and over £1bn being returned to taxpayers in five years. So the coalition privatised it, awarding it to a company owned by Virgin and Stagecoach. In March, the government announced it was selling its 40 per cent stake in Eurostar for £750m to a consortium comprising a Canadian pension fund and Hermes Infrastructure. This at a time when Eurostar had been posting record profits and the sensible thing would have been for the government to maintain its stake. Even those who are usually in favour of privatisation denounced the sale. “The sale of Eurostar is a terrible deal for the taxpayer,” declared Dr Richard Wellings of the Institute of Economic Affairs. Wellings noted that five years ago, taxpayers spent around £800m in current prices bailing out Eurostar.

Again, it’s a case of nationalising the losses and privatising the gains. FIRE & RESCUE IN 2013 the government sold off the Fire Service College, which had been in public ownership and training firefighters since the establishment of a National Fire Service in 1941. The college was sold to Capita in February 2013 for £10m.In March 2013, the government announced that Britain’s search and rescue helicopter service, carried out for 50 years by the RAF and Royal Navy, was to be operated by US firm Bristow, on a 10-year contract worth £1.6bn. The government, which likes to boast about its support for Britain’s armed forces, also killed off another in-house service, when as part of an army reorganisation, it was announced that the Naafi, the institution which has supplied shops, clubs and recreation facilities on British Army camps the world over for almost 100 years, was to close. INFRASTRCUTURE SIX months after taking power, the coalition sold High Speed One, the Channel Tunnel rail link, to two Canadian pension funds for £2.1bn.

“The most modern section of the UK rail network has been sold off for a song in what amounts to nothing more than a fire sale of the family silver to prop up the financial deficit caused by the bankers and speculators in the first place,” lamented the late RMT leader Bob Crow. CRIMINAL JUSTICE THE government announced plans to privatise around 70 per cent of the probation service. In May 2014, the 34 probation trusts in England and Wales were closed down and under the new system 21 community rehabilitation companies are now responsible for working with low and medium-risk offenders. The contracts to the private companies are worth around £450m a year for seven years. NORTHERN ROCK THE bank was saved by nationalisation in 2008, but in 2011 the government sold the most profitable parts to Virgin Money, for an upfront payment of £748m, representing a loss of at least £400m for taxpayers.

Needless to say, the government left taxpayers holding on to the “bad” part of Northern Rock, Northern Rock Asset Management, which in January was told in a court ruling to pay £258m in compensation to 41,000 customers who took out Together mortgages before the bank’s collapse. THE TOTE The state-owned bookmaker had been set up by that well-known communist Winston Churchill in 1928. It protected the public from fleecing by on-course bookies and ploughed its profits back into horse racing — helping to make British racing the best in the world. In 2011 the government sold the “nanny goat” to private bookmaking firm Betfred for £265m. Again, it was a bad time to sell, as Tote profits had risen by 13 per cent in 2010. Only fools and horses? Well only fools would have sold off the Tote — or fanatic privatisers. Related Tags: It looks like you've got Adblock Plus installed. The Morning Star relies on advertising revenue — please consider unsubscribing or placing us on Adblock Plus' whitelist.

Job Listings People's Press Printing Society Owned By Our Readers We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society. Public servant earns more than £1 million - Telegraph UK News Public servant earns more than £1 million The head of the state owned bookmaker, the Tote, has received a pay package of £1.15 million, making him the country’s best paid public sector executive, it has emerged. Trevor Beaumont, head of the state-owned bookmaker, the Tote Photo: NEWSCAST 7:30AM BST 25 Oct 2010 Trevor Beaumont’s basic pay was boosted by £700,000 as a result of performance bonuses and a retention payment to persuade him not to leave. The Tote’s executive board approved the retention payment in September 2009, after Gordon Brown announced plans to privatise it. It was intended to prevent Mr Beaumont defecting and ensuring the sell off went smoothly. The package also included three years worth of combined incentive payments.

But critics have attacked the size of the awards at a time when the Government is cutting spending and asking public sector workers to accept pay freezes. Emma Boon, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This pay package beggars belief. No public servant should be getting hundreds of thousands of pounds in extras, especially at a time when the government is cutting spending. “This is way out of step with remuneration for equivalent private sector roles.” But Mr Beaumont said the incentive payments had accumulated over three years and this was not a one of payment. The Tote has 650 staff at its headquarters in Wigan, Lancashire and more than 3,000 at its network of betting shops across Britain. It was set up in 1928 Winston Churchill to provide gamblers with an alternative to illegal bookmakers and has an annual turnover of £2.8 billion. George Osborne the Chancellor has already announced that the coalition still plans to go ahead with the sale of the Tote.

Question: Name the UK state owned bookmaker, set up by Winston Churchill when Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1928?
Answer: The Tote