NEWS
23 March 2017
Cheltenham Festival proved to be a record breaking week for PBS and Smarkets
By Caroline Watson
tech BGT Sports (PBS) reported record-breaking shop SSBT performance during the Cheltenham Festival.

It was the first Cheltenham Festival where PBS showcased its Racing Post product, which includes a full suite of integrated content appealing strongly to the low-mid staking recreational customer.

Bets on multiples such as Lucky 15s and Trebles grew as punters increasingly adopted the wider functionality of the SSBT, moving towards the higher margin, non-singles bet types.

John Pettit, Managing Director for UK, Ireland, Asia and Australia at PBS comments: “Our figures throughout the Cheltenham Festival were very positive as we saw record-breaking horse racing turnover couple with margins that you would usually associate with football on SSBTs.

“It is very encouraging that racing customers are now adopting SSBTs as readily as football customers, who have been the backbone of terminal business for several years.”

PBS were not the only ones to post record results following last week’s Cheltenham Festival. Betting exchange, Smarkets also posted record-breaking numbers after releasing statistics on the platform’s performance.

The company said that year-on-year records were broken across the board, with a total of £137.9m traded on the 28 races, up 52% on the previous year.

Successful punters were paid out a total of £13.6m , enjoying 0% commission on the Festival’s first race each day, saving a total of £60,000 thanks to Smarket’s promotion.

Smarkets CEO Jason Trost adds: “It’s exciting to have become one of the market leaders in horse racing and was a great to see so many users taking advantage of the 0% offer – a hassle-free way to maximise your returns, in contrast to the often confusing free-bet offers many others provide.”