Calvin Ayre – While it didn’t quite the reach the initial £500 million estimates being thrown around last week, the Cheltenham Festival still proved to be a gold mine for UK bookmakers, both in terms of betting handle and customer acquisitions. That’s how big the four-day horse racing festival has become in the UK. Throughout the week, more than £250 million in bets were taken, a staggering figure that was compounded even more by the boost in new customers bookmakers were able to acquire during the entire week. It figures that with 67,814 attendees on the final day alone, Cheltenham…

Could we see Atlantic City horse racing on the beach? The centuries-old Il Palio event held in Siena, Italy may get a variation in that theme in New Jersey, as was first reported here on this blog last month. On Monday, legislation to permit the horse races on the Atlantic City beach cleared an Assembly committee. The bill (A-4149) would authorize the New Jersey Racing Commission to grant “a special permit to a running race permit holder that leases a state-owned racetrack, to hold or conduct a special running race meeting on the beach.” Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, said the…