Vision
To promote gambling entertainment in a responsible manner which protects customers and is to the benefit of horseracing and equestrian industries around the world.
Values
The Pari Mutuel betting model is underpinned by specific values:
- Integrity
- Fairness
- Transparency
- Trust
As set out above, Tote betting has four core values:
Integrity – for customers and the horseracing sector
Tote betting is a form of betting with core values which guarantee the integrity of betting on sport. With Tote betting, the volumes of bets are added together and the winnings shared among the customers who back the correct outcome, after the take-out of the operator.
This is done completely independent of the result of the race with the Tote operator having no vested interest in the outcome of the race.
WoTA members work in close cooperation with racing authorities around the world.
Fairness
Tote betting treats all customers fairly. Every bet has the same chance of success and dividends are equally proportionate to the size of bet. Unlike fixed odds bookmakers who are taking risk when accepting a bet from a customer, the relationship between Tote operators and their customers is not adversarial, and there is no need for customers to lose to make money. Tote operators therefore have no vested interest in the success of their customers and are not motivated to try to “beat them”, or to close or restrict winning customers’ accounts simply because they are successful. Even though the bookmaker tries to balance the books, profitability will differ depending on the result of the event.
Transparency
Tote betting ensures transparency through the implementation of clear operating rules to establish an equal percentage share of total bets that will be returned to winning customers. Tote operators are able to share the performance information of their pools with customers without disclosing commercially sensitive information relating to the operating model and appetite to risk through how odds are set.
Trust
Many WoTA members were established by Governments and remain wholly, or part owned, by the state or by the sport (Sweden, France). For those who have become private owned, like the UK Tote, the operators remain intrinsically linked to the sport and operate under the philosophy of doing the right thing by the customer and sport.