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ntain is set for more than three million fans across Europe to place bets on the delayed 2020 UEFA European Championships, roughly twice as many bets as on the last World Cup in 2018. The tournament will run for a month, kicking off tomorrow, June 11, when Italy plays Turkey.
So far, Entain’s UK customers have placed the most bets. France is the most-backed to win with almost half of UK fans so far putting money on Les Bleus. This is not dissimilar to the situation at the last World Cup, when just 9% of UK-based fans backed England, compared to 47% in Belgium, 39% in Croatia and France, 20% in Spain, and 16% in Germany betting on their national teams to win the tournament.
The Chief Executive of Entain Jette Nygaard-Andersen, said: “Most betting will be after the tournament starts, and we expect to see roughly twice as many fans placing bets on the Euros as in the last World Cup, reflecting the growth of our business in the past three years. With offers across most countries taking part we’re perfectly placed to offer fans exciting experiences.”
For the first time on a major event of this size, Entain will host almost all customer activity across its European brands on in-house technology. This gives Entain a unique insight into the expectations and betting behaviors of fans across the majority of countries taking part in the tournament, which it can then use to tailor its offers and their experiences accordingly.
For instance, bwin is hosting “King of Europe,” a tournament where fans in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, and Romania can choose teams and compete to be the best, the top five sharing a jackpot of €1 million. Meanwhile, in the UK, Ladbrokes is adding leaderboards to its ground-breaking 5-A-Side product, and making it free-to-play, which enables fans to build their own teams and compete with one another for free.
Data from Entain’s global database of 160 million customers also shines a light on what most interests fans and is driving early bets ahead of the event. For instance, bets placed by around 1.5 million football fans across the participating countries between January and May show:
- Over 50% of all bets so far have been placed by fans in the UK – with roughly as many UK fans putting money on France to win as those betting England.
- France has so far attracted the most bets to win the whole tournament (28%), followed by England (20%) and Belgium (12%).
- Across fans in all countries, 47% of bets, so far, are on which nation will win the Euros, followed by which player will be the lead scorer (15%). The second most popular bet for UK fans is the correct final score of the final.
- Country differences also emerge when it comes to betting on top goal scorers. On this measure, UK fans have put money on leading UK players Harry Kane with 23% of the bets, marginally in front of Romelu Lukaku with 22%, Lukaku being the first choice for top goalscorer amongst fans outside the UK.
Entain’s player database also shows that, as a general trend, football fans from smaller European countries are more likely to bet on their national teams than those from larger ones.
