LONDON – 9th March 2016 – Worldpay, a global leader in payments, is predicting that online bookmakers will experience up to a 60% increase in turnover this week as British punters hope for a re-run of last years’ record-breaking Cheltenham Festival.

A string of winning favourites at the 2016 Festival saw the betting industry suffer losses of more than £60m, the worst in living memory.  But figures from Worldpay show that bookies have an excellent opportunity of recouping their losses if last year’s betting patterns are repeated.

Overall, last year’s Cheltenham Festival saw 39% more online betting transactions compared to the week prior to the festival. The Gold Cup proved to be the most popular day for betting, seeing 57% more transactions than the previous week and an astonishing 66% more bets than the fortnight prior. The figures help to explain the large-scale losses suffered by the industry at last year’s event, and bookmakers will hope to avoid a similar situation in 2017.

James McGurn, VP Growth – Digital Content & Gaming, at Worldpay said: “The Cheltenham Festival is the jewel in the crown of National Hunt racing, but bookies will be hoping for a much more successful year in 2017 following last year’s losses.