Bookmakers are braced for a £250million gambling bonanza this Grand National weekend.
Wagers on the famous horse race are set to top records with betting shops reopened and a quadruple of crunch sports events on Saturday and Sunday.
Rachael Blackmore, 32, aims to make history again by retaining her Grand National title on 14/1 Minella Times.
She became the first female jockey to win the steeplechase last year. In 2021, around £120m was wagered in the UK on the Covid-hit Aintree showpiece.
But with bookies open again, an extra £30m in wagers and three million bets are expected for Saturday’s race.
Golf legend Tiger Woods’ stunning return to the US Masters this week could bring in £20m in wagers while F1 fans will splash the cash on Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Later, bookies expect the Premier League “title decider” between Manchester City and Liverpool to net the most football bets since England lost to Italy in last summer’s Euros final.
The four massive sporting events means bookmakers anticipate in Britain at least a quarter of a billion pounds-worth of flutters will happen as almost all sports have key fixtures on Saturday or Sunday.
Coral’s David Stevens says the fact betting shops were shut during last year’s Randox Grand National had a big impact on the amount wagered in 2021.
He explained: “With betting shops still closed when last year’s National was run, punters had to have their flutter online.
“While plenty did, with the High street up and running again in 2022 we’re braced for the busiest day of the year on Saturday and that will see £150 million bet in the UK on the biggest race of them all.”
William Hill’s Tony Kenny said: “The next few days are heaven for sports fans.
“With the Masters, Grand National, and the potential Premier League title decider between Manchester City and Liverpool all taking place, we’re seeing the biggest events of the year collide at once.
“We’re predicting it to be one of the busiest periods we’ve ever had at William Hill, with industry turnover for the National alone likely to be heading towards £200million.
“Sit that alongside golf’s first Major of the year and one of the biggest domestic football matches of all-time, and we could see a quarter of a billion pounds in turnover across the industry.”
Since 1839 the National has run 173 times, only missing three years of WWI, five years during WWII, the voided race of 1993 and most recently in 2020 when lockdown forced it to be a computer-generated, virtual NHS-charity race instead.
This year is the 174th running of the world’s greatest steeplechase with Rachael Blackmore, 32, making history last year as the race’s first-ever winning-woman rider on Minella Times.
This year the double act are going for the double - with Blackmore, and 14/1 Minella Times teaming up again on Saturday afternoon and aiming for more glory.
Jack Shelley, William Hill’s Deputy Director of Horse Racing, said: “The Grand National is our single biggest individual event of the whole year.
“We’re expecting to take over three million individual bets online on the race itself and with retail back open for the first time since 2019, we can expect to see record turnover.
While Nick Wilson, William Hill’s Specialist Golf Trader, said: “The Masters is always the most bet on golf tournament each year at William Hill.
“We took a record 350,000 bets in 2021 and we expect to see similar interest or even more this year.
“The big story this year is will Tiger Woods tee it up for his first appearance of the year? If he does, we’d expect business to ramp up even further as every year he’s always very popular with customers.
“We currently have him at 50/1, the biggest price he’s been since winning it at 50/1 in 1997, but you’d imagine that will shorten up if he confirms he’s going to be part of the field.”
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