Fitzdares CEO: You should be able to bet what you like if you can prove affordability

 Ace of clubs

Stake and chips

Hit for six

Six months ago, Fitzdares found itself in a horrible place when coronavirus forced the shutdown of British horseracing and offices. The day after the Cheltenham Festival and Al Boum Photo’s back-to-back Gold Cup victories, most of the 20 staff transitioned to working from home with dual-monitor setups and work phones, although Woodhams half-jokingly remarks that Slack has become the bane of his life. But it was the dearth of sporting action, particularly domestic racing, that was the most difficult aspect. “It was horrendous during lockdown. We were promoting Hong Kong racing and doing what we could with what we had, but our members were never going to bet on Taiwanese badminton or virtual sports.”

Fitzdares still managed to end its financial year in June in the black despite lockdown coinciding with what is traditionally the firm’s most profitable three months (the biggest event in a normal year for turnover is Royal Ascot while the Cheltenham Festival is the key event for acquiring new customers). The business emerged from lockdown with its marketing “in sixth gear”, says Woodhams, including promoting its 1950s-style Drive-in Derby with live race commentary from the large screen piped through attendees’ car radios. The PR around this unique event and the creation of the Fitzdares Club helped boost organic online searches for the brand by 2,000% post-lockdown.

The bookmaker has also been ramping up its involvement with household names from the world of sport and sport production. For example, it introduced a service using WhatsApp voice notes whereby well-known commentator John Motson, OBE, ex-England cricketer Sir Geoffrey Boycott, OBE, and BBC Sport’s former racing hack, Cornelius Lysaght, provide their views on upcoming matches and big race meetings. Fitzdares also publishes sporting previews and features on its own media content platform, and even prints a biannual newspaper, the Fitzdares Times, trumpeted as ‘required reading for the discerning gambler’.

Woodhams concedes that printing a paper in this digital age might sound like he is “on crack” but he believes there is a gap in the market for quality sports content with a betting angle. “The Times has a racing tip on their website and that’s about their racing coverage. The second most popular sport in the UK and The Times doesn’t cover it. There’s no good content on sports for our sort of customer base.” Interestingly, Woodhams suggests there is room in the betting industry one day for a subscription-based bookmaking model, with the Fitzdares Club and the online and print media content being the initial steps towards this. “Every industry, from [private members clubs] Soho House to Amazon and Netflix has a subscription service.”

Until then, the focus remains on building the Fitzdares brand and swimming against the tide in an industry characterised today by faceless corporations constrained by the automation and algorithm gods. Part of this is achieved by reinforcing that air of exclusivity. “We’ve been on the journey building really incredible customer experiences, both through service and physical experiences,” the CEO says. “Why can’t you go to the races and just have amazing food and wine, and why can’t you go to a club in Mayfair and watch greyhound racing with Beef Wellington? It sounds like fun to me.”

While membership for the Mayfair club may be out of reach of some, the hope for Woodhams, who says he still classes himself as more of a businessman than a bookie, is that more regular, lower-staking punters give Fitzdares a spin besides its high rollers and horseracing’s illuminati. “We want to show UK gamblers there’s another way of having a bookmaker – it doesn’t have to be all about prices, offers and an app,” he asserts. Woodhams singles out two famous luxury retail brands to underline his point: “When it comes to experience, people want a bit of Harrods and Selfridges.”