
Bookies bank on record weekend of sport

ByChris Johnston
Business press reporter, BBC News

A bumper roster of sport consisting of the Grand National, the Masters and Premier League video games, is anticipated to produce a record weekend for bookies.

The Grand National will attract about ₤ 225m in wagers throughout the betting industry, William Hill forecasted.
Combined with other sporting fixtures it anticipates to take "the highest turnover levels on any weekend in history", the yohaig code bookmaker said.
Saturday's race is anticipated to be seen by 600 million people internationally.
"the yohaig code Grand National is the public's race and we will see countless once-a-year punters coming in to betting shops or downloading the app," William Hill representative Rupert Adams said.

the yohaig code race is set to bring in over 35 million bets with the average being worth ₤ 4.41.
William Hill is also hoping for another big-priced winner in the Grand National this promotion code year. The last 5 races have actually produced winners at odds of 33/1, 25/1, 25/1 and 33/1.

Ryanair president Michael O'Leary owns 5 of the 40 horses in Saturday's field.
He is hoping to become the very first owner to win successive Nationals with various horses given that 1954 after Rule the World, ridden by David Mullins, declared triumph last year.
Last year, the start time for the Grand National was moved by an hour to 17:15 BST. The choice showed to be a boost for turnover and William Hill anticipates that trend to continue.
New sponsor
"The experiment of moving the start time actually paid off and we anticipate the Grand National to smash betting records this promotion code year," Mr Adams stated.

It is the first year that the race has actually been sponsored by Randox Health, which analyses blood and urine samples to discover and prevent illnesses.
The Northern Ireland-based company was established in 1982 by Dr Peter FitzGerald - an eager horse racing fan.
Meanwhile, the conference at Aintree might be impacted by a 24-hour strike involving members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Merseyrail and Arriva Trains North.
Tens of countless individuals travel by train from central Liverpool to the racecourse.
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director Merseyrail, stated the operator had created a schedule targeted at transferring as many travelers as normal on Grand National day.
Andy Bell, from Bookies.com, external, stated: "this promotion code is a bumper weekend of betting and the Grand National is often the event that sees people have a flutter for the extremely first time. The new start time indicates individuals are back from their Saturday shopping and activities and it is successfully the start of their Saturday night celebrations. It's best timing."

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