Sporting Index claim Olympic record

ting Index have reported record-breaking Olympic turnover for the London 2012 Games. The spread betting firm took nine times as many bets as they did during Beijing four years ago, with the number of sports being bet on rising from 16 in 2008 to all 36 in 2012.

The most popular Olympic betting sports were football and tennis, although wagers were placed on every one of the 302 medal events. The operator revealed that 70% of customers who had been active in betting with them over the previous three weeks had placed at least one bet on the Olympics, with one in three customers betting using hand-held devices.

Sporting Index Group commercial director Mark Maydon said: “We’ve been thrilled with London 2012 and, although we expected it to grab the attention of punters, it has surpassed our expectations. We made a conscious decision 18 months ago to invest heavily in our trading team, algorithms and modelling for the Olympics and we’ve been rewarded with unprecedented levels of interest.”

Meanwhile Sporting Solutions, the B2B and software data services division of the Sporting Index Group and providers of fixed-odds services to bookmakers worldwide, have reported that industry feedback is indicating total UK betting turnover of £80m-£100m for the Olympics, much greater than the £20m-£40m estimated prior to the Games.