For those in the business, if there’s one word that comes to mind when thinking about the relationship between betting and horse racing, it’s symbiotic – and this is always on full display at the Cheltenham Festival.

To mark this year’s edition of the four day festival, SBC is running a series of features looking at the event through the lens of the industry’s trading teams to see who the biggest movers and shakers are, but also how macro trends will shape UK racing in 2026 and beyond. 

The relationship between racing and betting was put under stress test last year in the run up the Autumn budget, so will this year’s Cheltenham Festival, and later the Grand National, help salvage things? 

To gain some cross-sector perspectives, SBC spoke to Jon Riley, PR Executive at bet365; Ben Keith, Founder of Star Sports; Ben Reilly, Chief Commercial Officer of Flutter UK&I, Ben Cullen, Head of Risk at Midnite, and a spokesperson for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

SBC News: Does the Cheltenham festival really hammer home how significant horse racing is to UK bookmakers?

Jon Riley, bet365: Horse racing remains an important part of our business, and one which is hugely enjoyed by our customers. This is underlined before and during the Cheltenham Festival, which remains one of the standout moments in the British and Irish sporting calendars, and the pinnacle of the National Hunt season.

Ben Keith, Star Sports: This is when, as a sport, we are on show, and as a community, we must be most welcoming. Jump racing is almost unique to the UK and Ireland, and Cheltenham is so important to the identity of what we have to offer the rest of the world as bookmakers. The UK and Ireland have traditionally led the betting world. 

I worry that with such a hampered industry and sport in disarray that this is no longer the case. May Cheltenham 2026 remind us of the importance to be an example and always be moving forward.

Ben Reilly, Flutter UK&I: Absolutely. Despite some of the wider, more macro challenges facing racing, the Cheltenham Festival remains one of our most important weeks of the year. It’s far more than a standard horse racing event for us, it’s the horse racing event of the year – a proper mass market moment that captures the excitement and engagement of customers across the UK.

Ben Cullen, Midnite: Cheltenham is the clearest reminder of the year that horse racing sits at the absolute heart of UK sports betting. The numbers speak for themselves with turnover across the industry during those four days dwarfs most other sporting events on the calendar. 

You’re dealing with a customer base that is ready and willing to bet multiple times a day across a packed card. For risk and trading teams, it’s the most demanding week of the year, and that level of operational pressure reflects just how commercially critical the sport is.

BHA: A symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship has existed for hundreds of years between our sport and the UK betting industry.

Betting wise, the Cheltenham Festival is second only to the Grand National in terms of its appeal to racing bettors, and data from the Horserace Betting Levy Board demonstrates that nine out of the top 10 races by turnover in 2025 were at the Festival.   

This is undoubtedly helped by the jump season effectively building up to this meeting, as well as The Festival’s strong international appeal, with the best horses from Britain and Ireland taking each other on.

Cheltenham always captivates a huge amount of the UK population. How can the sport ensure these fans and punters stick around for future meetings?

BHA: The Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham racecourse, and the sport’s marketing arm, Great British Racing, have put a number of initiatives in place over the years to effectively market the Cheltenham Festival and ensure that fans keep returning each year. 

Work is also underway to further grow racing’s fanbase: in 2025, British racing launched “The Going is Good” campaign, specifically targeted at members of the British public who sit outside the sport’s fan base but are open to going racing or placing a bet. We believe it was a contributing factor in racecourse attendances rising by 4.8% in 2025 and the campaign will continue in 2026.

How important an event is Cheltenham for both your customers and your brands?

Jon Riley, bet365: Many racing fans plan their year around the Festival, and it consistently generates great interest from our customers and engagement across our platforms.

Cheltenham provides jockeys, trainers and owners with the biggest stage in which to showcase the greatest jump horses in the world, and it allows bet365 to demonstrate the depth of our racing product including industry leading odds, boosts and bet builders.

Ben Keith, Star Sports: Our customers relish Cheltenham and Royal Ascot. We are traditionally racing bookmakers; the festivals, on-course and with content, are where we, as a bookmaking firm, shine bright.

Ben Reilly, Flutter UK&I: It’s a huge event for customers, and therefore our brands. It captures the attention of the betting public in a way few other sporting events do. Last year, people staked almost twice as much on Cheltenham than the Grand National meeting at Aintree. 

Commercially, it’s important for many reasons; it’s typically our biggest week of the year for turnover, a great chance to acquire new customers and also a great opportunity to engage our existing customers. Well over half of our annual sports revenue comes from customers who have a bet during Cheltenham week.

It’s also a really important week for engaging our colleagues. This year will be my 16th Cheltenham Festival working at Flutter and it’s always one of the best weeks of the year, if at times pretty nerve racking. I always remember in 2015 when three of Willie Mullins’ favourites on the opening day had all won. 

We were facing a multi-million pound payout if the next favourite – Annie Power – came in. After motoring up the hill, she flicked the top of the hurdle and fell. It’s those amazing moments – some you win, some you lose – that will live with you forever. Cheltenham brings our people together; we try and put on a great show for customers, share the excitement and hopefully celebrate a bit along the way.

Ben Cullen, Midnite: For customers, it functions almost like a national event in its own right. You see people who barely bet the rest of the year come back for Cheltenham. Recreational punters, enthusiasts and people who think they have an edge are all in the same pool for that week. 

From a brand perspective, it’s a genuine statement of intent. How you perform during Cheltenham, your prices, your markets, your live experience tells customers a lot about who you are as a bookmaker. Get it right and you build real loyalty.

Operator marketing budgets are under strain this year. Is the BHA concerned at all about the financial impact this could have on the sport?

BHA: Following last year’s Budget, we know that UK betting operators are facing an increased tax burden in the coming years and, naturally, they will have to look at what that means for their businesses.

Even though racing secured a carve-out from the rise in gambling taxes, we have been clear that we understand there will be a knock-on impact on our sport. 

This is why British racing is keen to work closely with operators to better understand the impact of these tax changes and to find new ways of growing the sport and its attractiveness as a betting product.

Is horse racing still a crucial product for the retail sector?

Ben Rilley, Flutter UK&I: Yes, horse racing remains a crucial product for retail and we’re proud of the heritage that we have there. Football may well have overtaken horse racing now in an absolute sense, and there are issues that need resolving, but betting and racing have this great, symbiotic relationship and we’re incredibly proud of our relationship with and support of the sport. 

We want to work with racing to attract a bigger audience, a new generation of racing fans, and to build sustainable growth.

Ben Cullen, Midnite: Absolutely. The high street shop and the horse racing timetable were essentially built around each other, and that relationship hasn’t fundamentally changed even as the industry has shifted online. Racing gives retail a reason to be open and active across the full day, every day. Without it, the retail proposition becomes considerably weaker.

They remain deeply intertwined, even if the conversation has shifted. Online has obviously grown enormously and taken share across all products, but horse racing has made that transition better than most. Cheltenham is probably the best annual proof point of that. It unites the retail customer, the online customer, and the brand in a way that very few other events can.

Stay tuned to SBC News tomorrow for another feature examining the relationship between betting and racing, and how this relationship may evolve following last year’s fiery debates around taxation…