UK bookmakers will donate £2.6m to National Health Service (NHS) charities thanks to bets placed on Saturday’s Virtual Grand National race.

A total of 4.8m viewers tuned into this weekend’s Virtual Grand National broadcast on ITV, representing nearly one-third of all UK TV viewers at the time. Virtual nag Potters Corner – an 18-1 longshot – won the simulated horserace, which was put together by Inspired Entertainment using historical data, algorithms and CGI.

While the viewer numbers were only half of those that were expected to have tuned in had the real Grand National been allowed to run, it represented a more than six-fold increase over the 2019 Virtual Grand National ratings. This year marked the third year that ITV has aired a virtual race before the real deal.

With most other racing and sports events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bookmakers were only too happy to offer wagers on this year’s Virtual Grand National. However, UK bookmakers offered to donate all profits generated from the event to NHS charities, rather than be seen to be taking advantage of punters in these trying times.