Racing fans place 98 bets per second on Gold Cup day

14th March 2018 – LONDON — Worldpay is predicting a bumper week for Britain’s bookies, as punters go for gold during the Cheltenham festival. New figures from the payments leader reveal a 45% surge in online betting activity during the four-day festival, as racing fans seek to beat the bookies.

An analysis of gambling data from the 2017 event found that Irish punters are most likely to try their luck. While the Cheltenham Gold Cup gets plenty of betting action from all over the world, bookmakers saw a massive 126% increase in the volume of online bets placed by Irish cardholders, compared to the previous week.

Racing fans from the Emerald Isle are also playing for much higher stakes than their UK counterparts. Worldpay’s data revealed that the average deposit on Irish cards was €112.36 (£98.90) on Gold Cup day– more than double that of UK punters (£38.72).