Racecourse Media Group and Satellite Information Services announced a five-year agreement for the distribution of audio-visual "content" and data to licensed betting offices across the U.K. and Ireland for the period '18-23, according to SBC NEWS. RMG "will maintain responsibility for collecting pictures and data from all its fixtures." SIS "will take delivery of the pictures and data from RMG’s production facility in Ealing, West London, and will make it available to major bookmakers for inclusion in their in-house channels, most of which are produced by SIS." The new deal "will represent a far more efficient relationship between RMG and retail bookmakers, with a significant uplift in payments to racecourses and a saving for bookmakers over current arrangements" (SBC NEWS, 9/23). GAMBLING INSIDER's Martin Green wrote the British and Irish gaming industries "are set to save millions" as a result of the deal. The groups estimate the deal will save the industry between £70M ($106M) and £80M ($122M) "by cutting out inefficiencies such as rival data providers running services to betting shops in parallel" (GAMBLING INSIDER, 9/23).
