AB Bet was officially founded in 2006. A friend of our owner, Anthony Bywater, started representing a bookmaker on the northern circuit in 2005. Anthony shadowed him one day, and the rest, as they say, is history. He left that racecourse with a plan to start his own on-course business, and he did just that.
AB Bet's first official day of trading was Friday 21 July 2006. A day to remember, and also a day to forget. We stood at Pontefract, the silver ring, an evening meeting… We were late. Fabulous, arrived in time for race 2. A 16/1 shot won the first, an extra kick in the proverbial. About race 4 we had a nap though, Chicken Soup, we will never forget this horse, around an EVS chance, this will win, the only winner in our book, confident. Chicken Soup came second. We did in a couple of hundred on the meeting plus the expenses, which fortunately weren't as much as they are nowadays! A chastening lesson. But we learnt.
Since that day the brand has grown, and grown. We've had some marvellous days on the tracks of Great Britain, seen some wonderful horses, notably Frankel. We were lucky enough to see the “GOAT” at Doncaster, Newmarket, Ascot, Goodwood and York.
Big days that stick in the memory when we ended up on the right side are Noble Yeats' Grand National (50/1) and Wings of Eagles' Derby win (40/1). Although the good days outweigh the bad it is the bad ones that seem more memorable. Before racing on Glorious Goodwood Saturday 2016 a punter asked what price Hoof It was for the consolation Stewards Cup, “22/1, Sir” — £250 each-way he requested, £250 each-way he got. 28.0 on the machine. An OK bet to lay, business was starting to get going so “we'll have some back when they set off for the first race.” When the first race set off 28.0 had gone, long gone in fact, as had 22.0 and so had 20.0 and 19.0. We were in a proper hole. We could have about £10 at 18.0, £25 at 17.0 and maybe £30 at 16.5 — a right old-fashioned gamble, and not enough business to “bet around it”, quite simply no way out, unless, maybe, it gets a bad start…? Hoof It led all the way and won at 8/1! Lee Westwood had an awful lot of explaining to do, our worst ever result to this day.
Another one that sticks with us is the 2015 Ayr Gold Cup Day. One of our team, Neil, was of the opinion Don't Touch couldn't win the big race, a lightly raced 3-year-old up against all those hardened Heritage Handicap sprinters. “Can't win, surely it can't win? It's way too short.” In fairness at about 6/1 in a 25-runner field we wanted to lay it… Don't Touch won easily and is still talked about to this day.
We started to talk diversifying online in 2025 and launched abbet.co.uk for the 2026 World Cup. Since then we have seen slow, but gradual, growth. All clients, whether big or small stakes, are treated as individuals whilst we continue to respect and adhere to all our licensing objectives. Between all the staff there isn't many sports we don't enjoy or understand, and we all like a bet ourselves, so we are confident there will be some competitive prices and attractive boosts at one time or another for everyone. If there is something you want to bet on, but can't see on site — reach out, and it soon will be.
Courses we stand at
- Aintree
- Ascot (Royal Meeting)
- Ayr
- Cartmel
- Cheltenham
- Chester
- Epsom (Derby Meeting)
- Goodwood (Glorious Goodwood Meeting)
- Haydock Park
- Newmarket (Guineas Meeting)
- Warwick