Oddschecker insights: Bet365 took gold in Cheltenham Festival clickshare rankings
Price comparison portal also reveals BetVictor was the best-priced bookmaker and that Betfred had the most popular sign-up offer for the four-day meeting
Oddschecker’s Cheltenham Festival Review 2025 has revealed that bet365 once again was the frontrunner of the meeting, with almost a quarter of all betslip clicks going through to the online giant.
Bet365 secured 24.3% of all clickshare, up from 19.4% last year but slightly down on the 23.9% achieved in 2023.
The FairPlay Sports Media-owned affiliate said “strong positioning” in both best price and place rankings led to the Stoke-on-Trent-based operator “cementing their number one spot in the overall clickshare”.
In second position, William Hill made gains on its 12.5% of all betslip clicks in 2024 to attract 16.1% this time around.
Up 3.4 percentage points, Sky Bet finished third (10.2%), followed by sister brand Paddy Power (9.6%) and Entain-owned Ladbrokes (6.9%).
Oddschecker said Ladbrokes’ “aggressive pricing and promotional campaign” was behind the operator surging from 11th in 2024 to fifth this time around.
Other noteworthy climbers year on year were Betfair Exchange (14th to sixth) and BetVictor (13th to seventh).
As for pricing, the review showed BetVictor was the best-priced bookmaker, with the Gibraltar-based firm offering the best odds on 275 runners.
Sporting Index and Spreadex shared second spot (261 runners), followed by William Hill (254), Ladbrokes (232), bet365 (229) and Unibet (227).
Challenger bookmakers AKBets (222), Bet Goodwin (207) and PricedUp (203) rounded out the top 10.
Meanwhile, the data revealed Sky Bet again led the way in each-way betting by offering the most places, 129, up slightly on 128 the previous year.
Paddy Power (117 places) was second, ahead of QuinnBet, Betfred and bet365, all on 116.
Sky Bet gave customers an average of 4.6 places per race, compared with Paddy Power’s 4.18 and 4.14 at QuinnBet, Betfred and bet365.
In terms of overrounds, on-course and online bookmaker AK Bets topped the field with an average of 123.1%. The podium positions were filled by BetVictor (123.9%) and Ladbrokes (125.8%).
When it comes to acquisition, Betfred’s ‘Bet £10 Get £50 in Free Bets’ was the best performing sign-up offer of the week with the affiliate, followed by Hills’ ‘Bet £10 Get £60 in Free Bets’.
BoyleSports improved its offer (‘Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets) this time, which “proved to be a masterstroke as they took third”, oddschecker wrote.
This year’s Cheltenham Festival was one to forget for punters, as just 30% of the most-backed ante-post horses on oddschecker did the business compared.
Additionally, the affiliate noted the odds-on win-rate was 29% compared to 71% in 2024.
Hurdling superstar Constitution Hill was the second most-backed runner of the week, going off a strong odds-on favourite in the Champion Hurdle on the opening day, yet the Nicky Henderson-trained eight-year-old suffered a shocking fall midway through the two-mile race.
The drama-filled contest was won by 25/1-shot Golden Ace, after State Man fell at the final hurdle when seemingly having the race all sewn up.
Noting what was a profitable Cheltenham Festival for the layers, oddschecker said three of the four days were “punter bloodbaths as well-fancied favourites fell”.
Oddschecker added: “Tuesday proved the biggest day for margin, as the hugely backed Majborough (1/2) and Constitution Hill (1/2) proved the multi-busters on a dramatic opening day.
“To cap off a miserable week for punters, Friday’s average starting price of a winner clocked in at a whopping 21/1, the highest since 2019.”
