Leading Italian horse racing provider rolls out U.S. horse racing to its extensive network in enlarged agreement with leading Stateside supplier
XB Net, the leading provider of premium content for North American racing, has extended its new distribution deal to deliver its comprehensive horse racing portfolio across the Americas to powerhouse platform provider, MST (Media System Technologies).
The agreement sees MST harness most of the premier stateside races to Italy, including the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and January’s upcoming highlight of the Pegasus World Cup on 28th January at Gulfstream Park.
More broadly, it offers a wide range of XB Net’s live pictures, data and betting services from an unrivalled network of over 60 North American tracks (over 75% of U.S. horse racing) allowing MST’s partners (retail and online) to flexibly fill their programming timetable. As a result, MST’s own burgeoning suite of products now covers over 500 racecourses on four different continents.
Accordingly, MST’s proprietary platform can support its clients (such as Eurobet, Goldbet, Sisal, BetFlag, SKS365, Lottomatica and the Microgame network) with an authentic 24/7 horse racing turn-key service which neatly plugs any gap on the daily betting calendar with engaging, easy-access content. MST’s platform harnesses everything required to run a responsible horse racing business across online, mobile and retail.
This daily schedule of immersive content, which complements Italy’s domestic sporting action, provides MST with a reliable source of fast-settling betting content between 18:00 and 05:00 CET. This engaging action is proven to capture and retain the attention of audiences during competitive digital-entertainment cycles, driving new revenue streams across many of the planet’s most prestigious horse races. These include the Pegasus World Cup, two legs of the revered Triple Crown, featuring the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, alongside the aforementioned Breeders’ Cup.
XB Net is the proven pacesetter for live North American racing content, managing international rights, data, odds and live broadcast and video streaming on behalf of its growing global portfolio of partners. Harnessing low-latency feeds from more than 2,500 meetings, showcasing over 25,000 races per year, North American racing is engaging more and more bettors as worldwide operators plug the gaps on an uncertain sporting calendar.
Currently working with many of the world’s leading fixed-odds, spread-betting and commingled wagering companies (such as Flutter Entertainment, bet365, William Hill, Playtech and Entain) XB Net enjoys a growing geographic footprint in mature and emerging markets across Europe, the UK & Ireland, Asia, North and Central America, and Australia. XB Net is now a key product of 1/ST Content, the innovative operating group for 1/ST’s media and content companies. 1/ST is the biggest racing company in North America, with a mission statement dedicated to redefining and supporting Thoroughbred horse racing and the ecosystem that drives it.
Moreno Tanfani, Head of Horse Racing Business at MST, said: “For Italian operators, North American racing represents a great opportunity to expand their offering beyond traditional fixtures and has proved a boon for acquisition and retention with those clients who’ve prioritised it on their integration road maps. Their players have already seen the added fun and value that U.S. racing brings to the betting experience, providing a trustworthy and regular flow of rapid-cycling opportunities. It’s an honour to be bringing events like the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and the Pegasus World Cup to Italy.
“After Italian restrictions on broadcasting horse racing from overseas were belatedly eased a couple of years ago, international content is growing in its appeal and assimilation. Indeed, XB Net now represents a significant part of our total turnover, including Italian races.
“XB Net is helping MST meet the demands of all kinds of player, allowing our clients and their customers to enjoy the best live racing from around the world 24/7. It’s a real boost for both increased betting activity and engagement.”
Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President of International at XB Net, added: “Wherever you set your scene on the map, delivering the right content at peak leisure-times remains of paramount importance. XB Net’s wide range of low-latency racing solutions and racetracks are now ensuring the requisite flexibility for MST and their impressive rollcall of operators, and we’re delighted with this progressive partnership.
“While it’s always fine to plan globally, you need to remember to deliver a flexible enough solution that works locally. Live, premium daily sport is ostensibly an easy sell wherever you are in the world. However, if that sport’s betting markets are consistent and the framework familiar to customers, not to mention the timing matches up well with local leisure periods, then we’ve found that engagement takes hold more quickly and proves enduring.
“Italy’s CET time zone is perfectly-placed to transition from its domestic racing scene into top-class ‘evening’ meetings stateside, so high-quality 24/7 programming is now an attainable reality for our customers, thanks to this evolving collaboration. We can’t wait to see how these innovative products continue to perform over upcoming highlights, with the upcoming Pegasus World Cup an obvious highlight.”
