A betting company owned by a secretive Australian businessman described as the “world’s biggest gambler” has launched an audacious attempt to replace the Tote Group at UK racecourses.

Telegraph Sport has learnt that Colossus Bets have approached several racecourses with a multi-million-pound offer to set up a new on-course pool betting service and oust the Tote, the gambling brand set up by Sir Winston Churchill.

Colossus Bets was founded in 2013 by Zeljko Ranogajec, a world-beating punter nicknamed the “Loch Ness Monster” in Australia because he is rarely seen in public, and Bernard Marantelli, a former public relations executive turned professional gambler.

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