WHAT IS A RACE NIGHT?

A Race Night is a unique way to raise funds. It brings all the excitement of an evenings racing to your club or charity.

The races are sealed in an envelope until all bets have been placed; this ensures that no one can know the result in advance. Once the bets have been placed a member of the audience selects a race, the seal is broken and the fun begins.

HOW TO PLAN YOUR RACE NIGHT

A WELL ORGANISED EVENT CAN RAISE IN EXCESS OF £500

Race Nights are very entertaining and great fun. A well organised event can raise several hundred pounds. We have included details of how to organise your event and by following our advice, the cost of your Race Night can be met from the money raised whilst still raising a substantial amount for your funds.

THE VENUE AND PUBLICITY

You will need a room which is large enough to allow an informal layout where everyone has a good view of the projector screen, whilst ensuring that people can move about freely, to place their bets and collect their winnings at the Tote and Payout desks. If space is a problem the Tote and Payout desks can be in another room.

Attract your audience (or in racing parlance “punters”!) using your usual methods of advertising – newsletters, notice boards etc. ensuring that you promote it as a social event rather than a fundraising event. As long as you get people through the doors you can be fairly sure of raising money on the night. The preparation you do before the night will enable you to raise even more money. This will be explained in greater detail later.

WHAT EQUIPMENT IS PROVIDED?

We supply a compere, the video projector, big screen, race tapes with full commentary,, race tickets, race cards, tote payout sheet and advice in running the event both prior to and on the night itself. We prefer that you supply staff to run the Tote and Payout Desk. This can be covered by two people for the Tote and one person for the Payout Desk (our compere will explain how this is done on the night).If you require us to supply staff, this can be done at an additional cost. Prices on request.

PLANNING YOUR RACE CARD

We provide a “Race Card” which will contain details of 8 races, each race having 8 named horses. The names range from being amusing to a little risqué. If you wish to supply names for horses to us, we can incorporate them in to a Race Card.
In the commentary the horses in the race are identified by number only, so it does not matter which video is chosen or what names are on the Race Card.

More importantly, the Race Card is a valuable source of income. Used properly it can cover the cost of the event and more besides.

SETTING UP THE TOTE

It is important to ensure the betting is handled as simply as possible.

You will need a table large enough to sell the tickets and ideally another, smaller, table to payout the winnings at the end of each race.

Before the evening starts it will be necessary for you to decide what percentage of the money bet on each race your organisation will keep. Usually this would be 50% or 60%. The remaining money is divided equally among those who have placed a bet on the winning horse.

Bets are taken at either 50p or £1 per ticket (the price is decided by yourself, prior to the event) and “punters” may buy as many tickets on as many horses as they wish. You will need to supply a cash float – remember that although the bets will be placed at 50p or £1,the payout will be in odd amounts

The Tote is closed prior to the selection of the race tape, and as soon as the race is over, the payout dividend is announced and the lucky winner(s) collect their winnings from the payout desk. An example of how the Tote works is shown, assuming that bets are taken at £1 per ticket and the takings are split 50/50:

TOTE EXAMPLE

A total of £104 is raised

£52 is retained by the fund raiser and the winning ticket holder(s) would share the remaining £52. Assuming that horse 4 won the race, then the £52 winning fund would be split between four ticket holders, who would each receive £13.

And that is all there is to it. A great evening’s entertainment and a great way to raise much needed funds for any organisation.

We can not guarantee how much profit you will make, but with careful planning and a reasonable attendance you should cover your costs and make a good profit and don’t forget, if your club/society has a bar there will undoubtedly be healthy profit to be had there as well!

LEGALITY

To ensure your event falls within the conditions of Section 15 of The Lotteries and Amusement Act 1976, so that no licence is required to run the event, we advise that the event should also incorporate a supper, disco, bazaar, raffle or other similar event.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

For a superb nights entertainment combined with an excellent fund raising opportunity contact RS Entertainment for a quotation.

You need to book well in advance for Friday and Saturday nights to avoid disappointment.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on
01304 207879 or 07940 834921