William Hill names four new racing ambassadors

The British bookmaker has named new representatives.

UK.- The bookmaker William Hill has added four new horse racing ambassadors. They are Irish trainer Gavin Cromwell, the broadcaster Jane Mangan and National Hunt jockeys J J Slevin and Sean Flanagan.

The ambassadors will provide blogs covering racing news and meetings and video content for William Hill’s social media. That activity gets underway this very week with coverage of the Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown, where Slevin will race on Fastorslow.

The announcement follows William Hill’s extension of its title sponsorship of the William Hill Champion Chase for three years.

Andrew McCleave, head of marketing at William Hill Ireland, said: “William Hill has a long proud history in horse racing, specifically in the UK, and for 2024 we want to position ourselves at the heart of racing in Ireland as well.

“We are delighted to announce Gavin Cromwell, J J Slevin, Sean Flanagan and Jane Mangan as our new horse racing ambassadors in Ireland. All four are very talented in their fields and will be able to offer fascinating and unique insight to our followers.”

He added: “We really want to get into the DNA of Irish racing by supporting big races and festivals, so it’s fantastic that we have extended our sponsorship of the William Hill Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival for another three years, while our deal with Off The Ball should really help increase our exposure too.”

Meanwhile, the Irish racing industry continues to voice concerns about the potential impact of the country’s Betting Regulation Bill. It is particularly concerned about Section 141, which could reduce television coverage due to the proposal of a gambling advertising ban between 5.30am and 9pm.

Despite the proposed legislation making a distinction between sponsorship and advertising, Paul Hensey, CEO of the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR), is still concerned. He said: “The one stumbling block we still have is Clause 141, which prohibits bookmaker advertising on television or radio between 5:30am and 9pm, and we haven’t made any more progress on that yet.”