SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Rachael Blackmore was not the only one who set records at the Aintree Grand National this weekend, as Smarkets recorded a 21% increase in betting volume from 2019.
A total of £92.8 million was traded on the platform in comparison to the 2019 figure of £76.5 million, and the 2018 earnings of £57.4 million, whilst from Thursday to Saturday over £131 million was bet on Aintree Racecourse fixtures.
“After a record-breaking Cheltenham Festival for the company, to have set a new all-time high for betting volume on a single event is another big milestone for us,” said Jason Trost, CEO and Founder of Smarkets. “The growth of both our products, but especially SBK, has been phenomenal recently.”
Of the events taking place during the three-day Aintree Festival, Saturday’s National accounted for 71% of bets whilst first-time female winner Rachael Blackmore’s Minella Times was the second most backed horse on Smarkets’ SBK sportsbook app.
Pre-race favourite Cloth Cap, ridden by Tom Scudamore, received the most backing, but failed to finish the course, putting a dent in many punters’ pockets.
“It was a thrilling Grand National with a wonderful story as Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race, and I’m glad more people than ever enjoyed betting on it with our market-leading prices,” Trost added.
“We have a lot of momentum as a business right now, and with a summer football tournament one of several big events coming up, I’m excited for the next few months.”
Over £263 million worth of bets were processed by Smarkets over the previous seven day period of 5-11 April, making the Aintree week the second most traded in the company’s history.
In addition, The Masters golf event recorded £13.9 million in betting volume as Hideki Matsyama became the first Japanese man to win one of golf’s four major tournaments, in the same weekend that Blackmore became the first female jockey to win horse racing’s most prestigious event.
Smarkets’ success at the Aintree Grand National builds on last month’s Cheltenham Festival, where a record £210 million in betting volume was recorded.
Scientific Games also processed a ‘record volume of bets’ throughout the four-day event, reporting a ‘huge uplift’ of 53% on its OpenSports platform – utilised by William Hill, Entain’s Ladbrokes and Coral brands, and Flutter Entertainment’s Paddy Power and Betfair operators – with a total of 70 million bets placed across all bookmakers.
