Racecourse Media Group names chief betting officer

Racecourse Media Group (RMG) has promoted Ben Dowding to the new role of chief betting officer.

The promotion follows the merging of the company’s domestic and international betting teams, with Dowding previously serving as director of betting.

“Ben has a huge amount of expertise in the sector and I wish him every success leading the team to capture new international opportunities,” said RMG chief commercial officer Nick Mills.

Commenting on his new appointment, Dowding said: “I am delighted to have been asked to expand my responsibilities internationally. There are significant and exciting opportunities to enhance further both revenues and awareness for British and Irish racing via this new collaborative approach to the domestic and global betting markets.”

Dowding joined RMG from The Jockey Club in 2013 to lead RMG’s partnerships, and then B2B relationships, before becoming director of betting with a key focus on RMG’s domestic betting, streaming and data business with bookmakers.

He has helped oversee the move from a Bet to View model to a Watch & Bet turnover model, the introduction of real-time streaming in horseracing in partnership with STATS Perform and Phenix, and RMG’s development of in-play pricing via Coursetrack’s GPS data alongside Pythia Sports.

Dowding also represents RMG’s shareholding on the board of BoscaSports, the Dublin-based retail betting technology specialists.

RMG is the umbrella organisation for the 35 shareholder racecourses which hold an interest in Racing TV (which also includes coverage from all 26 Irish racecourses), GBI Racing (international betting broadcast service) and Racecourse Data Company (licensing and control of Pre-Race Data).