Poll results: Cheltenham still packs a punch for bookies
Most respondents believe the Festival will continue to generate meaningful revenues but are split on its long-term value
This year’s Cheltenham Festival will provide a healthy boost to bookmakers’ sportsbook revenues but the underlying value the frenzied week of betting creates is less certain, according to the majority of respondents to this week’s poll.
The four-day meeting, which is the highlight of the National Hunt calendar, is set to come to a roaring finish today with the famous Cheltenham Gold Cup up for grabs, and brings to a close a week where hundreds of millions of pounds are estimated to have been gambled.
Online bookmakers have been competing all week to attract new customers during the festival with an expansive range of special bets, money-back offers and mobile/tablet app updates being released.
But horse race betting has been on the decline for years and now represents a smaller percentage of sportsbook revenues than ever before.
With this in mind, this week we asked eGaming Review readers what kind of impact this year’s Cheltenham Festival would have on sportsbooks’ revenues.
A significant 85% of respondents agreed that the event would generate meaningful revenues but were split on how significant a boost it would provide to bookmakers’ coffers in the longer-term.
More than half of readers (52%) believe an uptake in revenues would only have a short-term impact and remain sceptical as to whether horse race betting would regain the lustre it once had with football now the main money-spinner for online sportsbooks.
A third of respondents believe bookmakers would attract a significant amount of new customers during the Festival through the special offers in place leading to future returns, as well as the immediate uptick in revenues.
However, 15% said the Cheltenham Festival would have no impact whatsoever and that horse racing is a sport in which betting interest is declining.