Under the new deal, the BHB is likely to receive about £110m ($160m/EU180m) a year from charging bookmakers for access to its vital pre-race data - almost double the amount of money given to the sport before the Levy was scrapped last month.
Bookmakers Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral, Stanleys and Dones, agreed to the new arrangements today, and assuming that other British and Irish bookmakers follow suit, the deal should be worth in excess of £600m ($867m/EUR975m) to British racing over the next five years.
"The deal enables the betting industry to focus on growth for the benefit of all parties," Chris Bell, chief executive of Ladbrokes Worldwide, said. "This agreement can now form the basis of a new partnership between betting and racing to benefit punters, shareholders, betting shop staff, stable lads, owners and racecourses.
"It is the dawning of a bright era for both racing and betting and cements the progress made in securing tax-free betting."
The BHB was forced to make some significant concessions to finally appease the bookmakers, including a vital decision to charge the bookies a percentage of their turnover rather than their gross profits. "It would have been irresponsible of us to agree to a form of payment based on bookmakers' margins when there was such uncertainty as to the impact of tax-free betting on margins," the BHB said today.
To find out more about what this deal means to British racing, see the features section of today's sportbusiness.com
