The Grand National, Aintree Team brief

It’s almost time for three busy, but exciting days of jump racing- including the world’s most watched horse race- The Grand National.

This page includes important information about working at The Grand National and the key initiatives we have in place.

Details of your pass, report time and the area you are working in can be found in the Team Brief email. If you have not received the email, please contact staffcommunications@britbet.com

Please take the time to read the information below carefully before coming on-course.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Please note, the britbet offices will be closed from Friday 6th – Tuesday 11th April for the Easter bank holidays. 

Any emails sent to staffcommunications@britbet.com or aintreeadmin@britbet.com will be responded to from Tuesday 11th onwards. 

Lunch allowance

We will be paying a £5 lunch allowance each day to every member of the team working at The Grand National.

The allowance will be paid via payroll and will not be subject to income tax or National Insurance deductions No receipts are needed for the allowance. Please bring your own food and cold drinks with you, there will be no snack packs or bottled water available. Hot drinks will be available in each cash cage.

Breaks

You are entitled to a 20 minute break which should be taken before 12.30, meaning you should be on break by 12:10 at the latest. This is the time to eat your lunch and relax before a busy day. Your Team Leader will let you know when you can take this break, and you should inform them if you have not been given a break by 12:10.

Marketing focus

The Cheltenham Festival was a great success, and following on from that we will be continuing to promote our key products:

Placepot, Lucky Pick and Tote Guarantee.

Tote Guarantee

We will pay SP or better on all Win bets and the win part of each way bets, guaranteed.
Customers can bet with us in the confidence that they’ll be paid at least SP on all of their Win bets.
Tote Guarantee is available at every britbet racecourse and Tote.co.uk for bets placed on all UK and Irish races, every day.

£500,000 Placepot to be won each day

Following on from the huge Placepot dividends at the Cheltenham Festival, we are guaranteeing that the pool will be at least £500,000 each day of the Grand National.
You’ll find a list of big Placepot winners from Cheltenham below.

On Thursday of The Festival, the Placepot paid £14,087 to a £1 stake.

On Gold Cup Day, the Placepot paid £23,672 to a £1 stake.

Does a customer need help making their Placepot selections? They can try a Lucky Pick Placepot –perms are available in your terminal for £2, £5 and £10.

Recent Lucky Pick big winners

Bet Bundles

We have renamed the £5 and £10 race wallets to ‘Bet Bundles’, with the bets inside focussing mainly on Exacta and Trifecta bets. We would like to sell these as an extra fun bet at the counter, when the vast majority of punters are placing their own Win and Each-Way bets.

You will find  point of sale materials to promote the bet bundles at your position, as shown below:

You can create a Bet Bundle using the ‘Wallet’ menu on your terminal:

• Select ‘Wallet’
• Select ‘Race’
• Choose from ‘£5 Bet Bundle’ or ‘£10 Bet Bundle’ -the relevant tickets will print to include the same selections in each bet bundle.

There is no need to put the tickets into a wallet, simply hand them to the customer and wish them luck.

The enhanced Lucky Pick commission will apply to all sales you make of bet bundles, so selling just four £5 bet bundles each race could earn you £7 commission.

Lucky Pick incentive

Don’t forget, the enhanced Lucky Pick commission incentive has been extended into April.

The average payment for qualifying sellers at The Festival was £33.

• Commission will be paid to any team member who sells a minimum of £100 of Lucky Pick bets in a calendar month
• The commission rate will be 5% for the first £1,000 of sales by each person each month
• So, you can earn £5 for selling ten £10 wallets
• A 3% rate will be applied to all sales above £1,000 in a calendar month

Any money due from your sales at The Grand National, will be paid in the May payrun.

Please use your initiative to sell Lucky Pick bets from your location. You can read more about Lucky Picks on FLOW.

And remember, Lucky Pick is available on every bet type and on every race.

Grand National runners and riders

There will be a print-out on Saturday available to every member of the team of all the runners in the Grand National.

One side will list the horses in alphabetical order and the reverse will list the horses in numerical order (as in the racecard). There will be enough print-outs for everyone in the team and any customer who may ask for one.

The print-outs will be available from your Cash Cage on Saturday.

Rounding up dividends declared with SP Guarantee

The SP Guarantee will often generate dividends to the nearest penny rather than nearest 10p.

For example, Starting Price 100/30 = Tote Dividend £4.34. Starting Price 4/6 = Tote Dividend £1.67.

If  you need to pay out a customer, you can round up the payments to the nearest 10p. There will be no concern about minor errors in cash if you do this.

Compliance

Customer ID Thresholds

Customer ID is required for:
• Single or cumulative stakes of £2000 or more;
• Pay-outs of £5,000 – if the stake is £1,000 or more
If a customer has reached or is reaching this limit, please ask your Team Leader to complete a Customer ID form with them. If the customer refuses to provide ID, they will be unable to place any more bets with us.

Think 25
We operate a Think 25 policy, please ensure that you as for ID from anyone who looks under 25. If in doubt – just ask! If a customer is unable to provide ID, please politely refuse to serve them.

The following dates can be used to confirm someone is over 18 on each day of The Grand National:

If a customer appears to be placing bets on behalf of a minor, please politely inform them that we are unable to accept their bet.

Please log all challenges via the terminal.

Responsible Gambling
Please be vigilant for any customers displaying any signs of problem gambling, such as chasing losses, making remarks about their finances, etc. If you have any concerns at all, please call your Team Leader who will carry out a customer interaction and will determine whether we can continue to take bets from the customer.

If you are approached by a customer who is significantly under the influence of drugs or alcohol, please politely decline to serve them. You should log this incident via your terminal and notify your Team Leader.

Emergency procedures

The Racecourse Staff Handbook covers all aspects of safety and emergency procedures and while working at Aintree you must always follow the instructions of the safety stewards; racecourse announcements and CCTV messages whenever a situation arises.

In the event of a partial evacuation of the area you are working in, effectively you must react as if you are a racecourse customer. If possible and safe to do so, you should sign off your terminal and take your cash trays with you to the safe place advised by the stewards. Once in a safe place, work out if you can safely find your way to a cash-cage, and do so if possible.

If a full evacuation of the racecourse is ordered and it is safe to do so please make your way to the staff car park and look for a board with Tote branding.

Managers or Engineers will have the boards and will be available to take any cash from your position from you. If the car parks are not accessible please follow the instruction of the Safety Stewards and keep yourself safe as the highest priority.