The commingling party is a big global bash

Not so very long ago, horse-racing bettors were having to look up the meaning of the word “commingled” as it started appearing in form guides, in betting shops and on TV.

Now it’s ubiquitous and is used to market race meetings and wagering in general. The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s World Pool was recently front and centre of occasions as far removed as Royal Ascot in the UK and the Hollywoodbets Durban July in South Africa.

The worlds of racing and gambling have been rapidly globalising – to coin a term not as popular as it once was – with punters in nearly 30 countries now routinely betting into commingled pools on horse racing action in a variety of places across the globe.

Commingling

Commingling of pools involves one totalisator organisation combining its wagering pool with another – or several others – to create one common dividend. With a bigger betting pool, racing fans can enjoy greater dividend stability and potentially higher dividends, according to the promotional hype.

Evidence for higher dividends is still scanty, but odds stability does seem to be a major advantage – with predicted payouts not being easily swayed by big bets struck late. Bigger pools mean less impact on a dividend from wagering volatility.

Commingling’s larger pools are a massive boost for the totes and racing operators involved – as they get a larger rake-off. No wonder they make a fuss of it. That’s good for the racing game in the long run, of course, but some punters are sceptical about the “value” they are promised.

Small markets like South Africa betting into a bigger market like Hong Kong does suggest advantages, but vice versa is not so clear.

Whatever; global pooling is here to stay – and at least modern technology means punters don’t have to worry about conversion rates and can concentrate on studying form.

One other upside is that local punters get to play interesting new bet types – such as the Quinella and the Trio.

This week new commingled initiatives were unveiled.

‘Many more opportunities’

Local betting platforms TAB and TabGold announced that from Tuesday 6 August commingled Quartet bets would be available on all UK and Irish races.

Until now, local Quartet pools have been offered on only two UK race meetings most days.

The press release promised “many more opportunities” and asserted that “customers can bank on substantially bigger pools and payouts”.

The unit of betting and minimum bet amount will be R1 and R6 respectively with no fractional betting, as is the case with existing commingled bets on UK and Irish races.

Separately, TabGold said Quinella and Quartet bets had been added to the range of bets commingled with Australian tote betting giant Tabcorp on Aussie turf and harness racing.

“Customers can now take Win, Place, Exacta, Trifecta, Rolling Double, Jackpot, Quinella (first two finishers, any order) and Quartet bets directly into Tabcorp pools through TabGold,” it said.

Again, the R1 unit and R6 minimum applies.