SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Betfair has revealed that Tuesday night’s Women’s World Cup semi-final between England and the USA broke all Betfair Exchange wagering records for women’s football.
A busy night on the Betfair Exchange saw a total £14 million wagered on the match, with Betfair explaining that the tournament in France has taken betting on women’s football to the next level.
The thrilling semi-final, which saw USA beat the ‘Lionesses’ 2-1, easily surpassed the company’s record £9.1 million in exchange wagers set earlier in the tournament as Netherlands beat Japan.
Betfair Spokesperson Katie Baylis said: “England may have been knocked out of the World Cup, but the tournament has been a huge success with record-breaking TV audiences and unprecedented interest and that’s also been reflected in the betting with record figures being traded.”
Updating the media, Betfair reveals that it has recorded ten-fold interest in women’s football, as to date France 2019 has generated a total of £220 million wagers bet on the tournament so far – more than double the amount this time four years ago. As a case in point, Betfair points to England’s Euros semi-final in 2017 against the Netherlands that saw just £1.6 million in match wagers.
Looking ahead to this Sunday’s France 2019 final between the USA and the Netherlands, Baylis added: “We’ve already seen £220m wagered with three games still to play which is more than double the amount at this stage of the last World Cup and we expect to have seen £250m bet by the time the trophy is won, making this one of the biggest women’s sport’s tournaments we’ve seen.”
