Oddschecker insights: punting appetite through the roof on opening days of Royal Ascot

Punters seek security of enhanced place terms across first two days

On balance, the bookmakers will be happy with how the first two days of Royal Ascot 2020 have unfolded. Tuesday could have been so much worse had Aidan O’Brien’s Mogul (10/11F) not flopped in the King Edward VII Stakes, while Wednesday also saw the beating of a short-priced O’Brien/Moore favourite in the form of Japan, who was unplaced in a compelling Price of Wales’s Stakes.

Notably, it was also a poor couple of days for Frankie Dettori multiple backers, as he only managed one win across the 14 races on well-supported Frankly Darling, despite some good rides on both days.

Punters aside, Tuesday and Wednesday have seen an excellent battle between operators and once again we saw the strength of place terms resonating with customers. This trend rang true at Cheltenham, where Paddy Power and Sky Bet dominated click-share (behind bet365), while offering the most place terms for the week. Given the delay to the flat season and the number of flat favourites operating at approximately 7 percentage points below the long-term average, it is no surprise that punters have been looking for the extra security that enhanced place-terms provide. Operators have been pricing certain races with favourable each-way terms against a short favourite in order to encourage these sorts of bets and to balance their books.

In the Queen Anne Stakes, the traditional curtain raiser run at 1.50 on Tuesday, William Hill’s five place offering allowed them to take more than 20% of the clicks on oddschecker, 9pp more than Sky Bet (3 places) and only 2pp behind the dominant bet365. This was particularly notable given Sky Bet ran their money back as cash if 2nd, 3rd or 4th offer on this race, though this could perhaps be overplayed given the race was 4/1 in the field and not offering as much value as previous editions.

Later in the card, Sky Bet’s standout four place offering on the Duke of Cambridge Stakes (4.10) saw them attain 19.6% of clicks, 11pp more than 3rd placed Paddy Power (8.6%) and other sportsbooks who only offered three, though still 8pp below bet365 who went joint best price on every single runner in the race.

Wednesday saw the same trends with Sky Bet and Paddy Power’s standout seven places on the Royal Hunt Cup (3.35), drawing them 22.1% and 20.4% of clicks respectively, only marginally behind bet365 (22.5%) who were once again best price on all but three of the runners at 11am, including the eventual winner Dark Vision.

Oddschecker commercial manager Alex Keating said: “Day one and two were tricky for punters with only five favourites landing so far.

“Place generosity and offers have helped them get a bit back but the timing of the meeting has left plenty of unknowns with regards form, while the rain we’ve had leading into day three could cause even more havoc.

“That said, there continue to be some well-backed favourites today in the form of King Leonidas, Battleground, Stradivarius, Finest Sound and African Dream,” he added.

Early indications prove positive for betting behaviour

There has been much speculation as to how successful Royal Ascot 2020 would be for operators given the unusual circumstances of the preceding months. Would punters be financially restrained as a result of Covid-19? Or would bettors be chomping at the bit to punt again following months of reduced sporting action? And what effect would a ‘stay at home’ Royal Ascot have on betting behaviour?

A good indicator of the punters’ appetite for betting is through the quantity of registrations that bookmakers are seeing via oddschecker. The early signs are that this year’s event is set to outperform Ascot 2019 from a betting activity perspective, with numerous operators mentioning year-on-year Ascot Tuesday staking increases of at least a fifth.

This Monday saw marginally more customers signing up to new operators than at the same stage last year, indicating more hype in the build up to the event. Tuesday was massive from a registrations point of view, with 70% more punters signing up to bookmakers via oddschecker than on the same day in Royal Ascot 2019. Wednesday’s figure was equally as impressive, with almost twice as many new registrations.

Indeed, the first three days of Royal Ascot 2020 (including the build-up on Monday) have already seen 75% of the total number of bookmaker registrations via oddschecker than last year’s event saw in its entirety (Mon-Sat).

Oddschecker’s James Tippett said: “With punters having been starved of sporting action for three months, it appears the bounce-back that the bookmakers hoped for is well and truly underway.

“The surge in registrations via oddschecker might also indicate a shift from retail betting shops to online bookmakers, as a product of the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

Paddy Power leads customer acquisition charge

With the early indicators showing a greater appetite for betting than last year, which bookmaker offers have been able to capture the attention of the punters?

Overall, Paddy Power has achieved the most clicks on offers displayed on the oddschecker site on Tuesday. Their “Bet £10 on Race 1, Get £60 in Free Bets” offer was the most popular of the opening day, ahead of Sky Bet’s “Bet £5, Get £30” racing offer. Betfred’s offers proved the third most popular on Tuesday via oddschecker, although some distance behind the two leaders.

This week is an important one from the customer acquisition perspective as bookmakers who are able to attract the greatest quantities of customers during Royal Ascot should see great benefits as an increasing number of sports and leagues return in the coming weeks.