The sponsorship, under the Ladbrokespoker.com brand, has also drawn attention to what it claims are ‘outdated’ Independent Television Commission broadcast rules on racing sponsorship as the firm wouldn't have been able to sponsor the programme under its Ladbrokes brand.
Says a Ladbrokes spokesman: “Anomalies in the current ITC regulations mean that bookmakers are able to sponsor sports TV programmes, but barred from sponsoring programmes which include racing results, such as Attheraces or Channel 4 racing.
“As Ladbrokespoker.com is classified as a gaming product rather than a betting website its sponsorship of Attheraces falls within the current ITC guidelines.”
Adds Ladbrokes managing director of eGaming John O'Reilly: "The rules governing bookmakers' sponsorship of TV programmes are outdated.
“The rules didn't envisage the proliferation of channels and the development of targeted programming such as Attheraces. When you have a channel that is specifically targeted at a betting audience offering interactive betting, it is simply nonsensical that a bookmaker cannot market its services to this key audience through programme sponsorship - particularly when gaming products can."
Bookmaker Ladbrokes has become the first ever programme sponsor of digital channel Attheraces live racing coverage.
