177% up to 5BTC + 77 Free Spins!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of 177% + 77 Free Spins
Flutter’s UK&I brands, Paddy Power, Sky Betting & Gaming, and Betfair, had a successful Cheltenham Festival last week, taking in more than £250m in stakes and executing about 37m online bets over the week. The St. Patrick’s Day celebration coincided with the Gold Cup on Friday, leading to strong recreational customer engagement in Paddy Power shops across the UK and Ireland.
This year’s National Hunt season, the Festival, delivered three iconic moments that fans of the sport couldn’t have predicted: Constitution Hill’s ease in winning the Champion Hurdle; Honeysuckle’s emotional farewell victory in the Mares’ Hurdle for trainer Henry DeBromhead and Rachael Blackmore, and Galopin Des Champs’ sublime finish as favourite to win the Gold Cup.
From a bookmaking perspective, it was nail-biting, with a customer-friendly set of results on Tuesday offset by many outsiders winning on Thursday and Friday. Flutter’s UK&I brands finished the week in the black, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Customers’ top three winners were Envoi Allen, Sire Du Berlais, and Stage Star, which cost the UK&I brands an eight-figure sum. Fortunately, Envoi Allen and Stage Star beat heavily-backed losing favourites Shishkin and Mighty Potter, respectively, helping balance the books. A Plus Tard, which failed to win back-to-back Gold Cups with Betfair’s newest ambassador Blackmore, rounded out the top three losing picks for customers.
There were also some big wins across the low-staking, recreational customer base. Two lucky punters scooped £100k and £200k on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, as part of the Sky Bet-sponsored and free-to-play competition, ITV7. Meanwhile, a Paddy Power retail customer in Kildare, Ireland, won €75k on a 20p ‘Lucky 63’ bet that picked out seven winners.
Flutter’s Chief Trading Officer, Dom Crosthwaite, reflected on the week of top-drawer racing, saying:
“It was another memorable Cheltenham, and it was pleasing this year to see the Festival’s mass-market appeal mirror the recreational nature of our customer base. We delivered a great customer proposition for our flagship brands, with a series of recent product upgrades and marketing campaigns driving strong staking levels of well over £250m. This was all made possible by our talented colleagues in Flutter UK&I, who worked incredibly well to seamlessly manage over 37m online bets across the week.”