Ascot and the Tote are hoping for bigger pools and better value for punters betting at next week's royal meeting when the first World Pool is launched in partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Around 30 individual pools from ten countries are expected to bet into what has been described as the first worldwide pool betting collaboration.
Pool bets, including those on course with Bet With Ascot, will be co-mingled into Hong Kong’s pools with the hope it will boost liquidity over the week from £20 million to more than £70m.
Take-out rates for win and place bets have also been reduced to 17.5 per cent (from 19.25 per cent and 20 per cent respectively) to gel with overseas operators.
Ascot's director of racing and communications Nick Smith was being cautious but said: "It could, in time, open interesting options with experienced punters looking at pool betting as a credible option alongside the multiple fixed odds and exchanges.
"The point being that the bigger the pool, the more liquidity, the more robust it is, so people will be able to bet into it without the fear that a big bet would create a huge price drop."
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