Bookies fight for share of £200m Grand National pot

Bookmakers are busy jostling for position ahead of the biggest betting day of the year in an attempt to secure their slice of the estimated £200m expected to be wagered on tomorrow’s Grand National.

William Hill estimates it will lay approximately £30m on the race, at an average of around £6 a bet. In the few minutes before the race, the firm is expecting around 10,000 bets per minute to be placed via its website and mobile app.

And speaking to eGaming Review, William Hill’s PR executive Jon Ivan-Duke said the firm would be keeping things simple in an attempt to attract new and existing customers to its site.

“The key for our marketing approach for the Grand National is simplicity. We want to make sure that we communicate how easy it is to bet with William Hill,” Ivan-Duke said.

“The vast majority of people betting on the Grand National are not regular bettors and therefore we try and keep the messages straightforward – the navigation around the site is made simpler and in retail we have quick slips that take away some of the complexities of betting,” he added.

Customer conversion

But despite an expected influx of new customers tomorrow, the industry has long struggled to convert sign-ups into long-term regular punters.

“The National is 90% once-a-year customers,” Simon Clare, PR director at Coral, said. “From years of experience we know that no matter how hard you try, most of them remain once a year.

“You see a lot of new customers staying after Cheltenham or the World Cup, but the National is unique. The best thing is to just provide good service,” he added.

Coral is offering a standard five places for online and mobile users but has also signed celebrity-psychic Mystic Meg to front their National campaign and help casual punters pick a horse.

Clare said the campaign should help the firm register an increase on last year’s takings, and estimates turnover of £20m on the race.

“Last year was slightly down on the year before. But if retail stays the same and we grow online, which we will do as we’ve grown a lot in the last 12 months, we should be well up on last year,” Clare said.

Others, meanwhile, are opting for a value-first approach. NetPlay TV’s Vernons.com is offering money back if your horse falls before the seventh fence while BetVictor has gone one better than the competition by offering six places on the big race, with the operator running a television advertisement starring actor Paul Kaye to drive home the point.

“Our National message across all channels is simple: BetVictor for Grand National value,” Charlie McCann, director of online PR, said.

The McCoy factor

McCann said the firm is already well on track to beat last year’s numbers, but is concerned that victory for AP McCoy, who is due to retire at the end of the season, could prove costly.

And according to Ladbrokes, a McCoy victory could cost the industry tens of millions of pounds.

“We reckon it will cost the industry £30m if McCoy wins, but that could be conservative,” David Williams, Ladbrokes’ head of consumer PR, said. “If the nationwide gamble unfolds the liabilities could go through the roof. The total cost could be disastrous.”

However others are trying to put a more positive spin on the 19-time Champion Jockey’s final National, saying that increased interest in the race will lead to more money being put down.

“Industry-wide we are looking at a record breaking Grand National because of one man: AP McCoy,” Mark Pearson, Betfred spokesman, said.

Breaking records

Meanwhile OpenBet CEO Jeremy Thompson-Hill said his firm was preparing for a record-breaking Grand National, with the volume of bets expected to exceed the 11 million bets it processed on National day last year.

“We have been preparing for what looks set to be another record-breaking Grand National,” Thompson-Hill said. “Part of this has been reviewing the power and performance of the platform over 2014, which peaked during the National.”

Payments processor Worldpay said advances in bookmakers’ mobile platforms will help make this year’s race their biggest Grand National ever. “Technology has made it even easier to place a bet and watch the race online,” Alan Watson, vice president gambling, Worldpay eCommerce, said.

“You can expect a lot of people to be glued to their smartphones at 4.15pm on Saturday, in addition to the millions of people in pubs and homes around the country placing their bets online from the comfort of their barstool or sofa.”