Coral Ending Long-running Sponsorship Of Cheltenham Festival Handicap

Coral has ended its sponsorship at the Cheltenham Festival, mentioning betting tax rises as the reason for bringing its backing to an end.


The bookmaker, which is part of the Entain group, has actually sponsored the Coral Cup given that its beginning in 1993 however following the announcement of impending boosts to remote gaming task, which is imposed on online casino-style games, and remote wagering responsibility on sports, excluding British racing, it has reassessed its marketing spend.


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


He stated: "Coral has actually been the longest-running sponsor at the Cheltenham Festival given that 1974, but the sheer size of the federal government's recent tax increase on wagering operators implies we are having to take very tough choices as we seek to alleviate some of the big impact, none more challenging or regrettable then bringing our sponsorship at Cheltenham to an end.


"The Jockey Club are strong, enduring partners of Entain, and although we are stepping far from this sponsorship, we will continue to work passionately and collaboratively with their racecourse groups on the huge sponsorships we have with them under our Ladbrokes and Coral brand names.


"Horse racing remains very crucial to Entain, and Coral and Ladbrokes have some of the greatest and most enduring sponsorships in the calendar, including the Ladbrokes King George, which had one of its finest ever renewals a few weeks earlier, and the Coral-Eclipse where in 2015 we commemorated 50 years of sponsorship. The Cheltenham Festival is also a huge 4 days for our company and our clients, and we will be promoting and commemorating it as much as ever in our shops and online and across our marketing channels.


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


"However, the significant change in the taxation landscape for betting operators implies we need to drive a lot more worth out of the occasions we sponsor, and evaluation with even higher analysis where we invest our marketing spend, which has led to the end of the Coral Cup sponsorship."