A group of 59 Irish bookmakers began an action in the Commercial Court in Dublin against the British Horseracing Board, in an attempt to recover the payments for pre-race information.
During today’s opening submissions, the bookmakers counsel, Brian Murray, said that the BHB last month conceded “they had no right”over information on the database from which the data was derived.
The Irish bookmakers, led by former Irish Government Minister Ivan Yates, who owns 34 betting shops, further claim that the licensing agreement, under which in March 2001 they agreed to pay for pre-race data to the BHB, are void, because of the judgements of the European Court of Justice in November last year and of the UK Court of Appeal in the BHB\’s case against William Hill in July this year.
In those judgements William Hill was found by the ECJ not to have infringed the BHB\’s database rights by publishing pre-race information on their website.
The BHB failed to overturn the decision in the Court of Appeal and as a result the Irish bookmakers are now seeking repayments and damages, which could add up to £20 million.
The outcome of the case, which is expected to last until Friday, will either set a firm foundation for the funding of British racing through data payments from overseas bookmakers or put its day-to-day finances at risk.
In separate news, Graham Price has been jailed for 12 years for stealing £10.3m from the Halifax Bank, for whom he was an agent, and dozens of elderly investors.
Price used their cash to fund his gambling obsession. Investigators estimate he lost £1m gambling on the internet with Betfred and spent £1.7 million on betting advice and racing tipsters and £250,000 to buy shares into 14 horses.
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