The World Cup in Brazil left bookies feeling bright despite three of the fancied teams making the semi-finals and a lack of shock results as the knock-out stages progressed. Pre-tournament, Mobile betting was expected to be the key battle-ground for operators and the reality was no different.
Ladbrokes’ David Williams believes the main disappointment was England’s failure to capture the public imagination, dampening betting enthusiasm somewhat at a critical time in the tournament.
“Overall it was great but England’s early exit saw some enthusiasm evaporate out of the market.
“It’s an inescapable truth that when England flop, a lot of infrequent punters switch their attentions to other sports. Their inability to escape their group left a bit of a hole.
“Netherlands were the only pre-tournament outsider (33/1) to make the semi-finals and three of the big four were there in the shake-up so it certainly wasn’t the month of shocks we’d have hoped.
“We always love to see draws at 90 minutes in the knock-out stages and the top goalscorer market was superb so we’re hardly grumbling and a lot of our energies went into making sure our mobile product was punching its weight. The numbers suggest we got it right.
“It was a thrilling month but with one of the worst Royal Ascots for bookies sandwiched smack bang in the middle of it, it needed to be.”
