Bookies engage in £150m World Cup battle
Showpiece event set to break rugby betting records with William Hill predicting turnover of £20m
Bookmakers are preparing to do battle for a share of an estimated £150m betting bonanza over the coming weeks as the Rugby Union World Cup gets underway with hosts England at Twickenham this evening.
The tournament is on track to be the biggest rugby event yet for bookies, and with more than two million tickets to the games themselves already sold, operators are rolling out plans to take advantage of what is expected to be the most watched and best attended World Cup in history.
William Hill estimates turnover in excess of £20m but fears a huge pay-out should England upset favourites New Zealand to claim the trophy, with 26% of outright bets placed on the home nation.
“England are all the rage at present and if they win, it will be the biggest pay-out in rugby betting history,” Rupert Adams, William Hill spokesman, said.
The battle to sign up new punters has also begun in earnest, with bookies offering a range of offers and bonuses.
Ladbrokes is offering new customers 3/1 from 1/5 on England to score the first try against Fiji for a £10 max stake, while BetVictor is boosting winnings with a 20% real cash bonus on winning trebles.
And in addition to using the event as an acquisition tool, Ladbrokes is also planning to cross-sell rugby union to football fans.
“Rugby customers are very traditional and primarily keep their betting to outright, match and handicap markets,” Jessica Bridge, Ladbrokes spokeswoman, said.
“However, with football consumers it comes more naturally to place their money on accumulators, goal-scorers, the correct score, and so on.
“So we are anticipating the derivative markets will be of interest to the recreational football customer watching the World Cup at home or in the pub on TV,” she added.
Betfair meanwhile have secured the services of England World Cup winner Lawrence Dellaglio and former Ireland international Keith Wood. The pair will discuss the tournament’s big games as it progresses and look at the betting opportunities available.
Suppliers are also preparing for a busy period with sportsbook and gaming provider OpenBet highlighting the evening and weekend matches as a big bonus for its operator partners.
“We have certainly seen an increase in bets placed on the sport in recent years and, thanks to England playing host and being among the fancied sides, not to mention the TV-friendly kick-off times, we are expecting bet volumes to be high over the coming weeks for all our operators around the globe,” Jeremy Thompson-Hill , OpenBet CEO, said.
“However, OpenBet is well prepared for large events like this, it is what we do best. It will interesting to see what our bets per minute are if England make the final, which they will of course!” he added.