Arena Leisure today welcomed the decision of the Racecourse Association to recommend Go Racing`s bid for the sport`s media rights.
Arena are part of the consortium on the verge of concluding a deal with Britain`s 59 courses after their #400 million bid was given the nod by the RCA board at a meeting on Tuesday.
Contractual difficulties still need to be ironed out during a two-week period of exclusive negotiations and Arena expect to make further announcements regarding acceptances, funding and timetable during the next few days.
Arena`s finance director Ian Penrose said: 'This has been a major decision for the UK racecourses.
'We are delighted that the strengths of the Go Racing consortium - comprehensive terrestrial coverage, interactive TV and gaming capability, together with global broadcasting - have been recognised.
'We look forward to working with the racecourses to maximise this opportunity for racing.'
Arena operate six British racecourses - Folkestone, Lingfield, Southwell, Windsor, Wolverhampton and Worcester - which make up 20 percent of the fixture list.
They are developing an online betting facility to operate pari-mutuel betting on a world-wide basis.
