Another lockdown has come and gone in the UK and luckily the good news and main difference from the first global shutdown is the continuation of major sporting events, including all racing, taking place behind closed doors. While not only is this good for our own mental health to get through the colder winter days, it is also critical for our industry.

The lack of elite sport throughout March, April and May was crippling for many. AllSported, the leading trading racing trading solution from Racing Post, recently released a research paper – Trading the past for the future – looking at the state of play in the trading industry post lockdown. The paper discusses how the exchanges are playing a huge role in pricing and look at what is next for the trading floor.

The damage from a complete wipeout of sport and of course the wider economic issues resulting from a global pandemic are still to be played out in full. While the gambling world is most definitely not bulletproof to wider economic factors there is a sense that this is not the only cause in the dropoff. As part of the research contributors from Banach Technology and TXODDS, partners in AllSported, take a deep dive into how the pandemic is highlighting changes across the trading landscape.

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The paper discusses how horseracing bookmaking is a different beast and the nuances involved aren’t being accounted for with ready-made solutions. The AllSported team spent some time speaking to both operators and platform providers and have come up with what they agree to be the main issues. The panel assembled came up with varying opinions throughout the research paper.

Key researcher and Head of Trading Solutions Alan Casey discussed the depth of the white paper and the effects of 2020 on horseracing trading saying:

‘2020 has been a year like no other but from our research, we’re seeing that this year has accelerated change that was already taking place rather than completely changing the direction of the industry. We now know customers have more time to expect the best customer experience and will no longer accept the norm across any industry and that includes betting.

‘We’ll be discussing the findings at this weeks Betting on Sports America conference and we’re excited to share what we’ve found and how that’s going to shape racing trading going forward.’