The Aintree Grand National is here and the bookmakers are preparing for a huge betting day on Merseyside.
Racing fans have been making the most of
Paddy Power's fantastic £50 free bet offer on the 2012 Grand National.
Sixteen-time Champion Jockey AP ‘Tony’ McCoy will be looking to take a second chunk out of Britain’s bookies this Saturday when he sits aboard Grand National favourite Synchronised in the race that stops a nation.
£200million will be wagered on the BBC broadcasted race tomorrow, and Britain’s leading bookmakers William Hill offer odds of 7-1 about AP winning a second Grand National aboard the Gold Cup winner Synchronised. Such is the popularity of the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year, that William Hill estimate a £100-million payout for the industry if the Cheltenham hero completes the rare Gold Cup/Grand National double.
It could be a turnaround of events for the bookies who celebrated their best Gold Cup result ever when Synchronised and AP took the Cheltenham Blue Riband last month. Punters left behind millions on the race siding instead with the fashionable duo of Long Run and Kauto Star.
William Hill spokeswoman Kate Miller explained to Cheltenhampro: ‘’This looks a bookie-bashing duo if ever there was one. A Gold Cup hero who slayed the giant duo of Long Run and Kauto Star in last month’s Gold Cup, piloted by the sport’s most decorated jockey ever in AP McCoy. It could be from riches to rags for the bookies!’’
John Smith’s Grand National (William Hill Bet): 7-1 Synchronised, 12-1 Giles Cross, Junior, West End Rocker, Ballabriggs, Cappa Bleu, 14-1 Chicago Grey, 16-1 Killyglen, On His Own, 18-1 Shakalakaboomboom, 20-1 Becauseicouldntsee, Seabass, 22-1 Sunnyhillboy, Treacle, 25-1 According To Pete, Always Right, 28-1 Organisedconfusion, 33-1 Calgary Bay, Neptune Collonges, 40-1 Planet Of Sound, The Midnight Club, 50-1 Alfa Beat, Black Apalachi, Quiscover Fontaine , Rare Bob, State Of Play, Weird Al, 66-1 Midnight Haze, Mon Mome, 100-1 BAR (EW ¼ 1,2,3,4)
THE GRAND NATIONAL
4,088,863 (four million, eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and sixty three)! The number of bets placed with William Hill in the 2011 Grand National
WILLIAM HILL estimate a £1billion betting week with the World watching the FA Cup Semi-Finals, Scottish Cup Semi-Finals & Football league fixtures at the weekend – with focus firmly on the North East of the country as Liverpool clash with Everton in the FA Semis.
WILLIAM HILL ESTIMATES that over £200 million will be wagered Industry-wide on the big race alone – that’s enough to cover the anticipated transfer cost of one Lionel Messi!
THE TOTAL WEIGHT of £200million pound coins is almost 2000 tonnes - almost as heavy as the English Capital’s iconic London Eye!
NEARLY HALF THE UK adult population will have a flutter on the National - either in a shop, over the phone, on the Mobile site or App; or Online, at an average of £8 per bet.
DURING PEAK TIMES Around 80 bets per second will be struck on williamhill.com (5000 per minute) in the build-up to the National.
MOBILE BETTING will surge, with 1,000 bets PER MINUTE expected to be wagered on Grand National Day, with punters betting on the move via the William Hill Mobile App and the William Hill Mobile Website.
THE GRAND NATIONAL is set to be William Hill Mobile’s biggest single day to date, surpassing all sporting events that have taken place since its introduction – even including the 2011 Champions League Final and the Ashes.
OVER £10 MILLION is predicted to be bet on the Mobile Sportsbook over the Grand National racing festival – if £10 million in stakes was arranged in £20 notes around London’s Olympic running track, they would lap the famous oval nearly 200 times.
GRAND NATIONAL DAY is the one day of the year where women bet nearly as much as the men. One in three Grand National bets are placed by women.
IF ALL THE BETTING SLIPS from the National were placed end-to-end they would stretch all the way from Liverpool to Las Vegas the Worlds gambling capital and back. A distance of over 5000 miles!
THE GRAND NATIONAL truly captures the imagination of the world - with Hills have taken bets from as far afield as Australia, Bermuda, and Kazakhstan.