Tote names chief to steer sale

THE State-owned Tote has hired horseracing veteran Trevor Beaumont to be chief executive ahead of its controversial sale early next year.

Beaumont, managing director of betting at ukbetting, faces the task of convincing doubters that the Government's plans to sell the pooled betting operation for a knockdown £150m to a proposed Racing Trust will not mean taxpayers are being fleeced. Critics say the Tote could fetch far more in open auction.

The Right-wing Adam Smith Institute think-tank this week urged the European Union to block the sale, which it described as a 'cosy deal with racing interests'. The Government argues that the Racing Trust would put some Tote profits into racing.

Beaumont has been at ukbetting for only 14 months but was previously with Coral and the British Horseracing Board.