One of Australia’s largest bookmakers, Sportsbet, has partnered with the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC). The five-year partnership will start on 1 January 2024 and will allow the Flutter-owned betting operator to become the naming rights partner for the Caulfield Cup Carnival. The bookmaker will contribute $125,000 to the Melbourne Racing Club Foundation each year.
The MRC has 12,000 members and organizes over 80 events every year across its three racetracks in Victoria. In addition to Caulfield, the MRC conducts meetings at Sandown and Mornington. The goal of the partnership is to bring the sport closer to new fans and make it easier for new sporting audiences to become engaged with racing.
Helping Local Communities and People in the Racing Industry
The partnership deal also stipulates that Sportsbet will offer $1 million to the winner of the Mornington Cup and Caulfield Cup double, as well as invest in LED technology for barriers, something that has never been done before and which will be rolled out in early 2024.
With the $125,000 contribution to the MRC Foundation, Sportsbet will directly support people working in the racing industry and local communities, as that is what the charitable division of the MRC has been doing so far with the money available to it.
The Flutter-owned betting operator shares similar objectives as the MRC Foundation, as it also does a lot of charitable and community work. Flutter Entertainment has a Do More program whose goal is to improve the lives of 10 million people by 2030. The Do More program is part of the Positive Impact Plan, the global sustainability strategy of the Flutter Group to which Sportsbet also contributes.
Attracting New Fans and Opening to Sports Audiences
Sportsbet CEO Barni Evans spoke of how excited Sportsbet was to partner with the MRC and attract new fans to racing. The Sportsbet chief described the MRC as “an incredibly successful and progressive Club” and said, together, they would help local communities. Evans claimed that by contributing $125,000 each year to the MRC Foundation, Sportsbet would help racing industry participants, something they were “particularly proud” of.
Melbourne Racing Club CEO Josh Blanksby said the Sportsbet partnership was the most significant collaboration in their history and they were delighted to be working with the largest betting operator in Australia and try to bring the sport closer to more audiences. Blanksby added that the Club was excited to partner with “such an iconic brand,” especially as Sportsbet had such an “impressive market share” in Australia.
