How to run a race night in a pub (planning, run sheet and the rules in plain English)

A race night is one of the easiest ways to fill a pub on a dark evening. Everyone gets behind a horse, the room shouts at the telly for two minutes, and then there's a gap for a drink before the next one. It suits regulars who'd never do a quiz, it suits groups, and nobody needs to know anything about racing.

But most of the guides out there are written for school halls and cricket clubs. They don't tell a landlord how it fits around a working bar, what to do with the pub's own screens, or where the law draws the line when it's your business taking the money. This guide does. It's how I'd plan one at Teal Farm here in Washington.

First, decide which kind of race night you're running

This is the most important decision, because it changes the money, the rules and the paperwork. There are three common ways a pub does it.

1. A charity race night

People pay for horses and put money on races, winners get paid out from the pot, and everything left over goes to a named good cause. This is the classic version and it's how most race night packs are designed. The Gambling Commission says you can run a race night for charity without a licence from them, as long as you follow the rules for the type of event you choose. More on that below, and in full in our guide to charity race nights in pubs.

2. A free race night

Nobody pays to play. Everyone picks a horse, the race runs, and the winners get bragging rights or a small prize from the house. Your money comes from the bar and the food, just like a quiz night. It's the simplest version to run every week, because there's no cash to count and no pot to share out.

3. A hired race night company

An outside firm brings the kit, the compere and sometimes the betting. It's the least work for you and the most expensive. If you go this way, ask them plainly how their night stays within the Gambling Act 2005 and get the answer in writing. It's your premises licence on the line, not theirs.

Keeping it legal (the short version)

I'm a landlord, not a lawyer, so this is the high-level picture from the Gambling Commission's own pages. Our full guide, are pub race nights legal?, goes through it properly.

• Money on races is gambling. The Commission describes a non-commercial race night as an event where people stake money on live, recorded or virtual races.
• Charity nights have to give the money away. After reasonable costs, the proceeds, including entry fees, sponsorship and the difference between stakes and payouts, must not be used for private gain and must all go to a good cause.
• Your bar takings are separate. The Commission says money taken by a third party selling goods or services at the event doesn't count as money raised for charity, and that third party can keep it.
• Horses must be picked by chance. You can't give odds or form to help people choose.
• Not online. The Commission says these exemptions can't be carried out remotely, for example over the internet or social media. Sell horses in the room, on the night.
• Running it for your own profit with stakes is different. The charity exemptions don't cover a pub taking a cut for itself. In some cases the Commission says race nights can only be run by a licensed betting operator.

If nobody pays to play, there's no stake, which is a very different position. If you're unsure about anything, ring your council's licensing team before you advertise.

How the horses and tickets work

If you've never been to one, here's the whole thing in a paragraph. The races are pre-recorded, real races with commentary, and nobody in the room knows the result. Each race has a race card listing the runners by name and number, with no odds or form. Before each race, people pick a horse. When the race finishes, whoever backed the winner wins.

On a charity night there are usually two ways in:

• Horse owners. Someone buys a horse outright for the evening, often £5 to £15 on the guides I read, and names it. Expect names you can't read out in front of your mum. The owner of each race winner gets a prize.
• Tote tickets. Before each race, people buy cheap tickets on whichever horse they fancy, typically £1 to £5. The money goes in one pot, a set share is paid out to the winning tickets and the rest goes to the cause.

On a free night it's simpler: everyone picks one horse per race, and that's it.

How many races?

Six to eight is the norm. Most packs come with eight races and a spare. Each race lasts about two minutes, so the races themselves are only a quarter of an hour of the night. The rest is the gaps, and the gaps are where you sell drinks.

For a pub I'd go with six races. It fills about three hours with a proper interval, people don't flag, and you finish before last orders instead of rushing the final.

Planning: four weeks out to the night

Four weeks before

• Pick the night. Friday or Saturday for a big one, or a quieter midweek night if that's the gap you need to fill. Our post on getting more customers on quiet nights is worth a read if that's your aim.
• Check the date against the football, local events and paydays. Our pub events calendar for 2027 has the big dates.
• Decide which kind of night it is. For a charity night, agree the cause with them now.
• Sort the tech (see below) and buy or download the races.

Three weeks before

• Start promoting. Posters, the screens, socials. Our pub marketing ideas cover the cheap ways.
• Line up prizes. A bottle, a meal for two, a bar tab. Our post on prizes that bring people back has ideas that cost less than you'd think.
• For a charity night, ask local businesses to sponsor a race. Their name gets read out and goes on the race card.

One week before

• Print race cards and tickets, or check the app works on your screens.
• Brief the staff and agree who's doing what.
• Do a full tech test, with sound, at the time of day you'll run it. Daylight on a screen is very different from a dark room.

On the day

• Set up an hour before doors. Floats in, tables out, races loaded.
• Run race one through once with the sound up before anyone arrives.

Staffing the night

You don't need a huge team, but you do need these jobs covered, and none of them should be your only bar person.

• A compere. Someone confident on a mic who can explain the rules in a minute, keep things moving and have a laugh with the room. Many packs include notes, and some have a recorded host.
• Horse and ticket sellers. One for a small night, two if you're over about 60 people, so the queue doesn't eat into race time.
• Someone on the tech. Starts each race, sorts the sound and doesn't wander off.
• An extra on the bar. The interval is your busiest 30 minutes. Plan for it.

On a free night where everyone picks on their phone, you can drop the sellers entirely, and the compere can be whoever's on the bar.

The tech: three ways to do it

Download or DVD race night packs

The traditional way. Race nights used to come on DVD, but most packs are now downloads you play from a laptop. A single night's pack costs anything from about £5 to £50 on the sites I checked, with yearly versions costing more. You'll need a laptop, an HDMI lead to your main TV or projector, and paper race cards and tickets.

The catch in a pub is that it usually plays on one screen. If your room is L-shaped or split between a bar and a lounge, half your customers are watching the back of someone's head.

Screen-based apps

Newer race nights run in a web page on your pub TVs, so the race plays on every screen at once. People pick their horse on their phone, so there's no paper to print and nothing to collect. This is the easiest option if you already have more than one TV, and it's the one I'd choose for a regular weekly slot.

Phones and paper only

If you've got one telly and a tight budget, a pack on a laptop plus a printed race card on every table works fine. Write the winners on a whiteboard by the bar.

Whichever you pick, sort the sound

TV speakers get drowned out the second people start cheering. Use the pub's PA or a decent speaker, and give the compere a proper mic.

What it costs

Rough figures for a pub night, based on the prices I found:

• Races: about £5 to £50 for a downloaded pack, or nothing for a free screen-based race night.
• Printing: a few pounds for race cards and tickets, if you use paper.
• Prizes: £20 to £60, or free if sponsors donate them.
• Extra staff: one bar shift for the evening.

On a charity night the race money goes to the cause, so the pub's return is the bar, the food and the new faces who come back. That's the right way to look at it anyway.

A worked example: a six-race Friday night

Here's a run sheet for a free six-race night with phone picks, starting at half seven. For a charity night, add horse and ticket sales in each gap.

• 7:00pm Doors and bar open. Race night on every screen with the QR code to join, and food orders being taken.
• 7:30pm Compere welcomes everyone and explains how it works in two minutes.
• 7:40pm Race 1. Read out the winners and hand over any prize.
• 7:55pm Race 2.
• 8:10pm Race 3.
• 8:25pm Interval, about 30 minutes. Food out, bar busy. A raffle or a sponsored race if you have one.
• 9:00pm Race 4.
• 9:15pm Race 5.
• 9:30pm Race 6, billed as the big one with the best prize.
• 9:45pm Final winners, thanks to sponsors, and tell everyone the date of the next one.
• 9:50pm Music back on. Most people stay for another.

Fifteen minutes between races sounds a lot for a two-minute race, but it's the drink, the chat and the build-up that make the night. Don't rush it.

Free race nights on your pub TVs

This is why we built a race night into StockTap TV. It's free to play, with no money or stakes involved. Everyone picks a horse on their phone, and the race plays on every screen in the pub. You start it from your dashboard when the room's ready, or set it to run at the same time every week. Have a look here.

FAQ

How long does a pub race night last?

About two and a half to three hours for six to eight races, including a 30 minute interval. Each race only takes a couple of minutes.

How many races should a race night have?

Six to eight. For a pub, six with a proper interval works well and finishes before last orders.

Do I need a licence to run a race night in my pub?

A charity race night can run without a Gambling Commission licence if it follows the rules, with the proceeds after reasonable costs going to a good cause. A pub taking stakes for its own profit is not covered by those exemptions. See are pub race nights legal? for the details.

Can a pub keep the bar takings from a charity race night?

The Gambling Commission says money taken by a third party selling goods or services at the event doesn't count as charity proceeds and can be kept by them. The race money itself must go to the good cause.

What do I need for a race night?

The races (a downloaded pack or a screen-based app), a TV or projector, decent sound and a mic, a compere, prizes, and race cards and tickets if you're using paper.

Can people pick horses online before the night?

Not for a charity night with money involved. The Gambling Commission says these exemptions can't be carried out remotely, for example over the internet or social media.

Sources

• Gambling Commission: Fundraising with bingo, casino, poker or race nights
• Gambling Commission: Guidance to licensing authorities, Part 28: non-commercial race night
• PTA UK: Step by step: race night

We checked every source on 8 November 2026. Rules change, so check the latest version before you act. Nothing here is legal advice.