More and more punters are creating their own bets, claim industry giant Entain, with Saturday’s Champions League final expected to break records with the number of Bet Builder wagers placed.
The firm, whose UK-facing brands include Coral and Ladbrokes, rolled out their Bet Builder platform for the first time in 2024. And they’re now reporting on a surge in popularity for the DIY betting option.
Entain has also revealed that as many as 40% of the bets they take on football in some of the countries they are licensed in are Bet Builder selections.
Doing It Themselves
The ever-popular Premier League and Champions League were joined by EURO 2024 last year, which helped to give Entain’s Bet Builder tool a handy leg up – OpenBet, the technology provider that powers the betting platforms of many online bookmakers in the UK, revealed that they processed a staggering 140 million bets during the tournament.
And that was particularly aided by the fact that England reached the final; research conducted by the UK Gambling Commission found that 36% of people surveyed had placed a bet on the clash between Gareth Southgate’s men and Spain.
That same study found that of those that had bet on EURO 2024, some 67% expected to have a flutter on World Cup 2026 and more than half on Premier League games during the 2024/25 season.
Many of those wagers, of course, will have come in the form of Bet Builders, which have enjoyed a boom with betting app users in particular. Indeed, Entain has revealed that the final of EURO 2024 remains their record high in terms of the number of curated wagers placed.
Entain revealed that EURO 2024 and Copa America, specifically with their Latin American audience, were key drivers in the take-up of personally-curated bets.
By September of last year, all of Entain’s brands had migrated to a Bet Builder platform that had been built in-house. And, when reporting on their activity for the first half of 2025, the firm revealed in a state of play address that Bet Builder wagers had more than doubled in the first six months of the year.
A surprising candidate as the most popular game of the year so far for Bet Builders was also confirmed: Argentina’s World Cup 2026 qualifier against Brazil in March, which Lionel Messi’s side won 4-1.
However, that is expected to be surpassed by the Champions League final between PSG and Inter Milan in Munich on Saturday for Bet Builder turnover.
Surprisingly, the Premier League does not hold the lead as far as being the domestic league where most Bet Builders are placed. That honour goes to the Spanish La Liga, which is particularly popular with punters all over the globe and particularly key betting jurisdictions in South America.
In terms of total bets placed on La Liga games, around 20% are now Bet Builder selections.
In Brazil, nearly 40% of all wagers placed on football are Bet Builders, while other countries like Belgium, Greece and Canada have also adopted the tool early.
Personalisation and Control
The ability to take full control of bets, by placing coordinated, complimentary selections together in a multiple, is considered to be a key factor behind the increase Bet Builder uptake.
Entain note that this wager type has been particularly popular with recreational punters, who typically want to place more frequent – but lower stake – bets that offer the potential for a larger payout.
The firm’s group trading director, Tom Ritzema, commented: “Bet Builders have quickly become one of the most influential innovations in sports betting. In an otherwise low-scoring sport, customers can create bets that align with their predictions for the flow or story of a game.
“They offer fans customisation, interactivity and the chance to leverage niche insights in a strategic way.”
Alongside ever-popular markets like match result, total goals and both teams to score, the most used selections for Bet Builders also include shots on target – particularly the player-based prop – and both team and total corners.
Entain is now working on the rollout of their own proprietary in-play Bet Builder tool, which they hope will be ready in time for the new Premier League season starting in August.
It has been a good year for the company so far, with their quarter one results in 2025 revealing ‘better than expected’ performance in the UK and Ireland online sector, which saw volume growth of some 21% compared to the same period in 2024.