Horse racing channel Attheraces faces an uncertain future, as interest in interactive betting services remains sluggish.

Attheraces launched in May 2002 with a £307m ten-year rights deal for British racing, and with the promise of interactive TV betting, looked an odds on favourite to come home a winner in the profits stakes.

The interactive betting services joined the channel after a few months on-air, yet is still struggling to attract punters in substantial numbers.

A joint venture between Channel 4, BSkyB and Arena Leisure, Attheraces was scheduled to turn a profit by year four or five, however, it looks like that may be pushed back to year seven.

A lack of interest from the racing industry is blamed for the slow take-off of the channel, but some Digital Spy readers have conmplained to us about problems with the interactive service.

One disgruntled punter contacted us about problems he was having with the Attheraces website, and said: "I think [Attheraces] are going to have a major problems for the Sky gamblers. The website offers maybe three or four race meetings from the USA, but the server seems to go down so you cannot bet on these races, or they don't offer betting for races they show on attheraces. For example, Calder racing was on for about 6 days in December, but not once could you bet at the meeting even though they were showing it live.

"Another problem they have is that when you place a bet and it wins on night races it can take up to a hour or more for you to receive your winnings."

A further potential blow to the success of Attheraces, is the apparent imminent launch of I-Race - a 100% computer generated horse racing channel. This will also offer interactive TV betting, and is likely to attract a similar audience to those currently tuning in to Attheraces.