CHELTENHAM punters will bet a staggering one billion euro for the first time at the festival this year, insiders claim.
All the big bookies are anticipating a record year as punters across Ireland and Britain go into battle at the race meeting next week.
Only two years ago, in 2022, OpenBet, a company that processes bets for many online bookmakers, revealed how they processed €500 million in bets at the festival that year.
But now sources in Paddy Power, BoyleSports, and Ladbrokes expect the figure to be close to double that for the 2025 meeting, which kicks off at Prestbury Park next Tuesday.
One insider said: “We expect the figure to hit the billion mark. Thanks to online betting there are more people betting on the Cheltenham Festival than ever before.
“They are doing it purely for fun and see it as a golden chance to take a few pounds off us poor bookies.”
The bookies are anything but poor. Flutter Entertainment which owns Paddy Power, Sky Bet and Betfair reported profits of €152million last year on a worldwide turnover of over €13billion.
Their Paddy Power brand has hundreds of shops right across Ireland and in the UK despite the surging growth online.
Cheltenham is the big week of the year for the whole betting industry and if they have a bad festival, they can have a bad year.
All eyes next week will be on the so-called Cheltenham bankers such as the Willie Mullins trained Galopin Des Champs going for a historic third Gold Cup, Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, and legendary punter JP McManus’s Jonbon in the Champion Chase on Wednesday afternoon.
The mere mention of leading Irish businessman McManus puts the fear into bookies.
Since he pulled off his first Cheltenham betting coup with his own horse Mister Donovan in 1982 — his first ever winner at the famous meeting — the Limerick owner and punter has been a constant thorn in their side.
That year McManus won £250,000 on Mister Donovan — the equivalent of a million euro these days — and he often says only for it he doesn’t know where he would be today.
He was after losing a fortune in the previous Cheltenham years and the lucrative win got his hugely successful gambling and business career up and running.
He has taken millions out of the Cheltenham betting ring over the past 40 years or so and his gambles with the brave bookie Freddie Williams were the stuff of legend.
OWNER SUCCESS
Limerick native JP is now one of Ireland’s richest men and also one of the most successful Cheltenham owners of all time with a remarkable 78 winners.
Many punters will be banking on McManus’ horses in his familiar green and gold colours to deliver yet again next week and will be following his every move.
Michael Shinners of Sky Bet advised punters: “The handicaps are always a puzzle. JP McManus is likely to have a strong hand.
“If you can work out which horses will be running in which races, you are halfway to winning the battle!”
JP has been the leading owner for four of the last six years and had five winners in 2024.
ANOTHER STRONG HAND
The other man the bookies fear is champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins who goes to the Cotswolds with another strong hand with several favourites.
Over the past decade he has turned out more winners at Cheltenham than any other trainer.
The bookies say that if Mullins has a good week, he could cost them millions in multiple bets.
Paul Binfield of Paddy Power said: “The Mullins factor at Cheltenham always resonates with backers, particularly Irish ones, and his expertise at sending combatants across the Irish Sea to score at the Olympics of jump racing means the Closutton trainer is just 13/8 to train nine or more winners this year.”
