{"id":170550,"date":"2021-04-14T08:33:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T15:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=170550"},"modified":"2021-04-14T09:53:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T16:53:30","slug":"grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand National Breaks UK Record for Biggest Online Sports Betting Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday\u2019s Grand National<\/a> steeplechase at Aintree was the UK\u2019s biggest-ever online sports betting event, as a unique set of circumstance helped it outstrip even the soccer World Cup final for digital wagering.<\/p>\n

\"Grand
Rachel Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National on Saturday on Minella Times. (Image: Tom Jenkins\/The Observer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Aintree stands may have been deserted, but around nine million Brits tuned in on television to watch. Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the grueling four-mile, 30-fence race. She won on Minella Times at odds of 11-1.<\/p>\n

The Grand National has long been a huge gambling event in the UK, attracting the \u201cone-bet-a-year\u201d demographic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of day when it\u2019s socially acceptable for even the primmest of grandmammas to shuffle to her nearest bookmaker\u2019s shop to \u201clump a tenner on,\u201d in the vernacular.<\/p>\n

But this year, Granny had to go online, as did the roughly one-third of the populace that bets on the race each year. Britain\u2019s land-based bookies reopened Monday<\/a> — all 6,000-odd of them — for the first time since December, even earlier in some regions. But it was too late to catch the famous old race.<\/p>\n

\u00a3100 Million Across the Board<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Flutter Entertainment, which owns big UK-facing brands like Paddy Power, Betfair, and SkyBet, over \u00a3100 million ($137.4 million) was bet on the National across the entire industry.<\/p>\n

Entain, which also owns Ladbrokes and Coral, said more than 150,000 customers visited its websites every minute during the race.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Grand National event saw record-breaking betting volumes for our UK brands and huge customer excitement in line with the thrilling outcome,\u201d Dominic Grounsell, who heads Sports Brands at Entain, told Reuters.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Online-only site 888 reported three times as many bets as in 2019.<\/p>\n

Grand National Goes Virtual<\/h2>\n

There was plenty of pent-up demand. Last year\u2019s Grand National would have come at the peak of Britain\u2019s first wave had it not been canceled and replaced with a virtual version.<\/a><\/p>\n

The virtual race was impressive — and popular — generating 4.8 million viewers and raising \u00a32.6 million for the National Health Service and the fight against COVID-19. But you can\u2019t beat the real thing.<\/p>\n

The length of the race and the number of fences, many of which are unusually high, are part of the attraction. They add an element of chaotic luck to the race, sometimes creating winners at very long odds.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026On the biggest betting day of the year, Rachael [Blackmore\u2019s] mount was extremely well-backed by plenty of her fans across the country,\u201d Coral spokesman David Stevens told The Press and Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn making Aintree history, she\u2019s also sparked the biggest-ever pay-out on a female rider, but we\u2019ll be paying out with a smile because her achievement is incredible, and worth its weight in gold to the sport of horse racing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday\u2019s Grand National steeplechase at Aintree was the UK\u2019s biggest-ever online sports betting event, as a unique set of circumstance helped it outstrip even the soccer World Cup final for digital wagering. The Aintree stands may have been deserted, but around nine million Brits tuned in on television to watch. Rachael Blackmore became the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":170551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,14577],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGrand National Breaks UK Record for Biggest Online Sports Betting Event<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UK\u2019s Grand National steeplechase, won by Rachel Blackmore on Minella, was \u201cmost bet-upon online\u201d ever, bookies say.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grand National Breaks UK Record for Biggest Online Sports Betting Event\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UK\u2019s Grand National steeplechase, won by Rachel Blackmore on Minella, was \u201cmost bet-upon online\u201d ever, bookies say.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-14T15:33:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-14T16:53:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rachel.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/\",\"name\":\"Grand National Breaks UK Record for Biggest Online Sports Betting Event\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rachel.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-14T15:33:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-14T16:53:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"The UK\u2019s Grand National steeplechase, won by Rachel Blackmore on Minella, was \u201cmost bet-upon online\u201d ever, bookies say.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-national-breaks-uk-record-for-biggest-online-sports-betting-event\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rachel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rachel.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Rachel Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National on Saturday, on Minella Times. 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