A brief history of the tote

The tote was established by Act of Parliament in 1928 to offer on-course ‘pool’ betting on horseracing in order to distribute profits for “purposes conducive to the improvement of breeds of horses or the sport of horseracing”.
The first major race meetings offering tote betting were on the 2nd July 1929 at Newmarket and Carlisle.

Our off-course betting service originated as far back as 1930 when a group of gentlemen set up Tote Investors Ltd. With the purpose of channelling credit bets into the tote pools.

In 1961, legislation permitted bookmakers to open betting shops, however the tote was only permitted to offer pool bets – a restriction lifted in 1972. Today we have a betting shop estate of 510 shops throughout the length and breadth of the UK.

In 1992 Tote Direct was set up to channel tote bets from competitor high street betting shops into tote pools. Tote betting terminals are now in more than 4500 shops across the UK.

A brief history of totesport.com

The tote was originally an early adopter of online betting, operating under the brand ‘totalbet’.

Since 2004, operating under the totesport brand we have grown into one of the UK’s premier online betting services and we are particularly well known for our first class racing service.

During the last decade totesport has expanded into online gaming, setting up an online casino (2005), instant games (2006) and bingo (2008). Due to tote’s government ownership we are unable to offer customers online poker or other skill based games.

In 2009 – with our privatisation status confirmed for the mid term – totesport’s online division was free to invest in developing our website to the next level.

Our project objectives reflect our business principles which are as follows:

· Provide customers with a highly competitive choice of betting opportunities
· Deliver a fast service both in terms of load speed and usability
· Provide customers with superb value for money

The first phase of our site development was launched in February 2010 complete with a fresh homepage display, one click betting from the homepage plus independent verdicts, spotlights and form direct from the Racing Post.

Add these developments to our commitment to offer customers Best Odds Guaranteed, the choice of enhanced ‘Win-Only’ prices and our complete totepool betting service we believe totesport.com now offers punters an unparalleled horse racing service.

Phase 2 is scheduled to be launched in March 2010 with further releases in the first half of the year. Look out for a rapid increase in the choice of bets we offer across a wide range of sports, further innovations with our website display and much more.

The tote internet betting operation, totebetXpress, was launched in 2002.

In 2001 responsibility for appointments to the tote Board moved from the Home Secretary to the Department of Culture Media and Sport. The Culture Secretary, Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP, now has responsibility for the appointment of the Chairman and appointments to the Board of the tote.