Coral Ending Long-running Sponsorship Of Cheltenham Festival Handicap

Coral has actually ended its sponsorship at the Cheltenham Festival, mentioning wagering tax increases as the factor for bringing its backing to an end.


The bookie, which is part of the Entain group, has sponsored the Coral Cup since its beginning in 1993 but following the statement of impending increases to remote gaming duty, which is imposed on online casino-style video games, and remote wagering task on sports, omitting British racing, it has its marketing invest.


Simon Clare, Entain's UK customer PR director, explained the choice to end the Coral Cup sponsorship was made with "some unhappiness", while highlighting the need for the company to derive "more value" from occasions in future.


He said: "Coral has actually been the longest-running sponsor at the Cheltenham Festival since 1974, however the large size of the government's current tax boost on wagering operators indicates we are having to take really hard decisions as we want to alleviate a few of the big impact, none harder or regrettable then bringing our sponsorship at Cheltenham to an end.


"The Jockey Club are strong, long-standing partners of Entain, and although we are stepping away from this sponsorship, we will continue to work passionately and collaboratively with their racecourse teams on the huge sponsorships we have with them under our Ladbrokes and Coral brands.


"Horse racing stays very essential to Entain, and Coral and Ladbrokes have a few of the greatest and most long-lasting sponsorships in the calendar, consisting of the Ladbrokes King George, which had among its best ever renewals a few weeks back, and the Coral-Eclipse where in 2015 we commemorated 50 years of sponsorship. The Cheltenham Festival is likewise a huge 4 days for our service and our consumers, and we will be promoting and celebrating it as much as ever in our stores and online and throughout our marketing channels.


Langer Dan (far best) winning the 2024 Coral Cup (David Davies/Jockey Club)


"However, the considerable change in the tax landscape for betting operators implies we need to drive much more value out of the events we sponsor, and review with even higher analysis where we invest our marketing invest, which has actually led to completion of the Coral Cup sponsorship."