Oddschecker insights: Sky Bet tops The Open clickshare as place terms battle heats up
Leeds-based firm takes 17% of clicks, but warns “10 places has less impact than it used to”
Sky Bet unsurprisingly garnered the most clicks through Oddschecker for this year’s Open, with a 17.1% share, thanks to a competitive overround and 10 each-way places.
The Leeds-headquartered firm beat bet365 (16.5%) into second place with the Stoke operator offering eight places, with a marginally better overround of 157%.
Oddschecker’s head of commercial Guy Harding said: “It seems that those who can combine good place terms with attractive pricing are set to dominate.
“For instance Sky Bet’s pricing was tantamount to William Hills’ but the extra four places it was offering helped secure 4x the number of bet slip clicks across Oddschecker platforms.”
However, Sky Bet suggested the promotional pull of ten places may have lost some power, with four firms offering ten places this year, compared to just Sky last year.
Sky Bet’s head of PR Sandro Di Michele told EGR: “This was the second year we have offered 10 places on The Open and due to a number of competitors also offering 10 places it’s getting to the point now where customers almost expect that many places. In essence, the appeal of 10 places has less impact than it used to.”
Ten places is also likely to be a loss-leader for firms, with Di Michele adding: “Due to the generosity of 10 places you are extremely reliant on bookmaker-friendly results. Essentially you require the big names finishing out of the frame if you want to return healthy margins.”
That was unlikely to the case this year, with the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy finishing in the frame.
Conversely bookmakers that didn’t offer the extra places said they turned a small profit on the Open.
Harding added: “The importance of place terms as a marketing lever has been growing year on year, but firms may have to decide for themselves whether it’s worth the trading risk.
