from TVG Network

Los Angeles, CA — TVG, America’s Horseracing Network and premier advance deposit wagering platform, recently launched French races on a daily basis, including major harness racing, through a partnership with Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) in France. Since late February, TVG customers have been able to wager on racing from over two dozen French Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks.

The new partnership is part of TVG’s initiative to grow its harness racing business and become an industry leader in promoting the sport. The first step in that process was introducing a qualifying tournament to award multiple spots into the World Harness Handicapping Championship, the industry’s largest handicapping contest. The next step is on a global scale. TVG will become the home for international harness racing in 2018 and the PMU partnership is a major step in achieving that goal.

“With the addition of such prominent racing from a new corner of the world, we are excited to invest in the future of harness,” said Niall Connell, SVP Commercial at Betfair TVG. “We will continue to showcase our support of harness racing in 2018 with dedicated spending on future marketing promotions, more player contests, and enhanced coverage on our network and streaming channels.”

The French racing now being offered on TVG features larger fields than North American harness players are used to seeing, as well as huge wagering pools well into the six-figures. For example, the first race at Vincennes on Thursday (March 1) included more than $1.1 million in the win and place pools alone with a field of 16 trotters. These win and place pools offer a low takeout rate of 15.05 percent, giving horseplayers a winning trifecta of large field size, large pool size, and an attractive takeout rate.

“We are pleased to partner with TVG in order to offer the very best of French racing to a wider market in the USA,” said Aymeric Verlet, International Director of PMU. “The large fields, especially in French trotting races, will appeal to American punters looking for value and a handicapping challenge. TVG’s broad reach and expanded international coverage fit well with PMU’s international expansion goals.”

TVG will continue to be proactive in its pursuit of growing the harness racing business by introducing high-quality racing from all corners of the globe while highlighting the most important domestic races.