Irish to gamble €100m at Cheltenham

IRISH punters are set to gamble more than €100 million on this week’s Cheltenham racing festival.

Bookies are expecting their turnover to be ahead of last year, which was the first time the festival was held over four days. There was some concern last year that the extra day of racing would dilute turnover but that has not proved to be the case and the betting industry is forecasting a lift this year.

Ivan Yates, owner of the Wexford-based Celtic Bookmakers with 50 shops around the country, told the Irish Examiner that the betting industry will be out to ensure that punters do not walk away with their money this year.

“We’ve a lot of six-figure liabilities but we’ll be taking the punters on. We don’t think the Irish will have as many winners as last year.”

That view is shared by betting exchange Betfair, which expects to process 300 bets per second at peak time this week.

“The smart money says we’re going to struggle though, and nine winners or more is out to 5-2 on Betfair now,” its Irish spokesman Eoin Ryan says.

“The fact that horses like War of Attrition and Celestial Wave haven’t made the Festival has been a bitter pill for Irish punters, many of whom would have backed both of those at big prices ante post.”

Mr Yates said the four-day festival is worth around €6m in betting to Celtic Bookmakers and he stands to lose €500,000 if Brave Inca repeats his success in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle on Tuesday.