Can bookies recoup Big Buck's in the Long Run?
Bookmakers are hoping to claw some money back on the Grand National after two favourites gave them a kicking at Cheltenham. Matthew Glazier of Bettingpro.com surveys their chances.
After an almighty bookmaker scramble to get their share of the Cheltenham Festival pie, the 2011 Grand National now looms large on the horizon and some operators will be hoping to make some money back after Big Buck’s and Long Run gave them a kicking!
They certainly won’t want a repeat of last year, where the heavily backed Don’t Push It gave AP McCoy a first triumph in this famous race, with the horse being punted from odds of 28/1 to 10/1 joint-favourite in the space of a few hours.
Even so, this is one of the few occasions in any industry where you have consumers queuing up to relieve themselves of some hard-earned cash, with turnover expected to surpass £100m as it did last year. The perennial question for the bookies is whether to embark on an expensive advertising campaign or free bet offer to reel in a bunch of customers whose lifetime value is unpredictable.
After all, millions of people will place a bet on Saturday 9 April, choosing their favourite jockey, silks colours or horse name before returning to other leisure pursuits for the next 364 days of their life. While the Grand National will see the 40 horses tackle fences such as Becher’s Brook, Foinavon and Valentine’s, bookmakers’ CRM teams also have several obstacles to overcome in the pursuit of long-term profitability.
Indeed, while an operator will need to have some tasty bait to lure in the customer on the morning of the big race, that’s only half the battle. Another well-backed runner like Don’t Push It could potentially leave bookmakers with a loss, not to mention a crop of new customers who may or may not be interested in free bets, live streaming, money back specials or enhanced each-way odds when it comes to any other sporting event.
One final spanner in the works for traditional bookmakers is that they also face stiff online competition from the exchanges for a race like the Grand National. Here at Bettingpro.com, we will be busy promoting all the bookmaker and exchange promotions for the Aintree meeting “ it will be interesting to see how many extra places are being paid in 2011!