Bookmakers haven’t always been too keen to offer betting odds for athletics events.
Whether they lack the expertise in-house to compile odds correctly, or the variable nature of many disciplines puts them off, only they know, but load up the ‘athletics’ section of your chosen betting site or app and you will likely be met with tumbleweed.
But that tends to change every four years with the Olympic Games, and there was a clear and concerted effort from the bookies to up their game for the Paris edition this summer.
And, all told, that greater depth of market coverage has worked. Flutter, the ownership company behind brands such as Betfair and Paddy Power, has revealed that their total betting handle increased by a mammoth 300% for Paris when compared to the Tokyo Olympics of 2021.
Going for Gold
The popularity of the Olympic Games knows no bounds.
Around 36 million people in the UK – equivalent to nearly 60% of the entire population – tuned in to watch 15 minutes or more of the coverage on the BBC, while the broadcaster’s streams were watched 218 million times; a new record.
There is, evidently, a huge appetite for the Olympics, and that was reflected by the betting numbers from Paris – aided by the bookmakers really doubling down in their coverage of the Games with more markets and odds than ever before.
At Flutter’s legion of brands, that was reflected by a 300% increase in betting activity when compared to the data from Tokyo.
And in North America, Flutter’s FanDuel platform enjoyed a whopping 500% uptick in their betting handle when compared to the Olympics of 2021 (the 2020 Games were rescheduled).
All told, that 500% increase far exceeded the growth in popularity of Super Bowl betting in the United States, which remains the most significant wagering day in the country. From 2021 to 2024, the betting handle on the Super Bowl has increased 3x….a silver medal compared to the unrivalled gold of the Olympics.
Peak Paris
The numbers suggest that there has always been something of an appetite for betting on the Olympic Games, but that 2024 was the first time that the bookmakers had really taken the time to publish outright markets and odds for individual races and events.
To offer some perspective, firms had to price up more than 300 individual events across 30 different sports; a mammoth undertaking, particularly as so few firms are regularly publishing odds for athletics.
In 2024, that market coverage was matched by Paris being the perfect host in terms of time differences: UK and European audiences were treated to top-notch sporting action in the evenings, while in North America armchair spectators were able to tune in at times of the day that were also favourable.
The connection between watching and betting is clear and obvious, which perhaps explains why the total number of bets taken during the Tokyo Games – on at a time when most UK punters would have been asleep – was relatively low.
It’s also possible that the Olympics attracts new punters that aren’t necessarily interested in wagering on football, horse racing and the bookies’ other key verticals. And that, according to Flutter’s Simon O’Shea, could leave a legacy that strengthens their platforms in what we might describe as ‘niche’ sports.
“For two full weeks, sports, human achievement, and nail-biting competition are the biggest stories in the world providing Flutter a platform to engage customers, both new and old, in new sports and products which has a halo effect thereafter,” said O’Shea, the firm’s head of global sports trading.
Opening the Door
Intriguingly, the Paris Olympics also hinted at a betting trend that hadn’t previously been evidenced.
According to Flutter, around 24% of all bets placed with their subsidiaries were on women’s sports and disciplines, including – in what must be a world first – the football tournament, which saw more wagers placed on the women’s action than the men’s.
And from a global perspective, the most wagered-upon sport with Flutter’s brands in Paris was basketball.
Punters in the UK had plenty of ‘local’ interest – another spark for betting volume. Popular household names like Tom Daley and Adam Peaty won silver medals early on in the Games schedule, while Keely Hodkinson, the current favourite to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, triumphed in the 800m.
Another popular discipline amongst TV viewers and punters alike, the relay races, saw Team GB win medals with all four of their entries into the men’s and women’s 100m and 400m relays.
But a shock on the track delighted the bookmakers: Noah Lyles, the red-hot 2/9 favourite, was downed in the men’s 200m final by 6/1 chance Letsile Tobogo.