British Horseracing Authority to monitor Irish betting trends

Irish racing’s regulatory body has signed a deal with its British counterpart to monitor betting trends on the sport here.

Last year the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board tendered for an outside body to supply extra examination of betting trends and investigate rule breaches.

The four-year commercial package was estimated at the time to cost €350,000 and the British Horseracing Authority has ultimately emerged successful.

An IHRB spokesman didn’t comment on the value of the deal on Friday evening but said: “We will be working together in different areas of intelligence. It’s just a stronger link between the two of us.”

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The tender replicated other sports organisations around the world which have employed sports betting monitoring companies in recent years.

"We are outsourcing an element of our function," the IHRB's chief executive Denis Egan explained when details emerged last year. "It's the same as using a third party service provider to provide the laboratory, or to provide camera pictures. This will be a monitoring service."

Horse Racing Ireland’s 2020 budget saw the IHRB’s integrity service funding cut by €200,000 but the tender process predated that.

It’s understood the contract will begin later this Spring.