Some sporting events are so beloved that they ascent into the consciousness of even non-sports fans.
The football World Cup, the Ashes and Wimbledon are just three such examples, while from a betting perspective the Grand National takes some beating.
The steeplechase is expected to turnover more than £200 million in betting revenue this weekend, with more than £250 million wagered on the three-day Aintree Festival in total.
But troubling is the revelation that £10 million – around 5% of all the money bet on the Grand National – will be wagered with offshore, black market bookmakers, who are unlicensed in the UK and don’t have to abide by the same standards of quality as their regulated counterparts.
Maiden Voyage
Betting operator Entain, the owner of Coral and Ladbrokes amongst other brands, ran the numbers in 2024 and found that the Grand National is still the biggest annual betting event held on UK soil.
Last year, the Grand National was the subject of a staggering 700% more bets than the next most popular race, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and saw more wagers placed than on any other single sporting event.
Of the hundreds of millions wagered, more than 80% of all bets were at a stake of £5 or less – that, typically speaking, indicates that a lot of ‘casual’ punters are betting on the outcome of the four mile, two furlong epic.
To prove that point, just 1% of bets recorded were at £20 or more – the sort of stake that professional punters and regular bettors would use (albeit the data doesn’t include the exchanges, where many ‘whales’ will bet).
The importance of the casual punter to the betting turnover of the Grand National cannot be underplayed, with nearly 50% of the total revenue generated from those staking £5 or less.
And, according to Entain’s findings, 30% of people that bet on the Grand National have deposited into their account for the first time, or are placing their first ever wager – or their first since last year’s edition of the race.
It is, therefore, vital for betting firms in building their customer base, so the news that the black market will swallow up around 5% of all money wagered on the Grand National in 2025 will be treated by all in the industry – as well as racing itself, which relies on the funds raised by the betting levy – with dismay.
The upshot of black market betting is that not only does the gambling industry and horse racing suffer, but also the UK economy.
Black Market Activity Proving Costly
At a time when the government is trying to boost the coffers with a range of different ideas, the UK is losing around £60 million each year due to punters placing their bets with offshore firms that aren’t accountable for taxation on these shores.
All told, the black market is estimated to be worth a staggering £4.3 billion annually; the equivalent cost of 1,500 teachers’ salaries or 1,700 nurses each year.
Even though it would be expected that casual punters bet on the Grand National with the most recognised ‘mainstream’ betting sites and apps available in the UK, there is a still a considerable black hole – an estimated £10 million – of bets placed on the race with illegal bookmakers.
That suggests that some high rolling punters are wagering considerable amounts with black market sites… without having to worry about their accounts being monitored by affordability checks, which most offshore operators don’t perform.
The amount of traffic to black market betting sites – as well as illegal operations ran via social media channels and messaging networks like WhatsApp – has increased by a staggering 500% in just three years… coinciding with the rollout of voluntary affordability checks by some of the UK’s household names in the betting sector.
“The Grand National is one of the precious few sporting events in this country with the ability to unite the entire nation around a single spectacle. It is the nation’s punt, and it is being subverted by illegal operators offering illicit gambling to thousands of punters, many of whom are vulnerable to harm,” revealed the Betting and Gaming Council’s CEO, Grainne Hurst.
“Almost £10 million will be staked illegally on the unsafe, growing gambling black market at this year’s Grand National, fuelling crime, undermining player protection measures, while sucking vital cash from sport and the Treasury.”
The current affordability check pilot scheme, which is set to run until the end of the month, sees ‘frictionless’ financial analysis performed when an individual loses £150 or more in a 30-day window.