Bet365 dominated oddschecker’s clickshare league table during the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, accounting for more than a quarter (26.7%) of all betslips clicks with the affiliate.
This share for bet365 compared with 24.3% recorded in 2025 and 19.4% the year prior, as the privately-owned online giant continued to benefit from its competitive pricing and offers, as well as being situated in pole position on the oddschecker grid.
The data published by the affiliate on how operators performed during the four-day event in March showed William Hill maintained second spot despite the evoke-owned bookmaker’s clickshare sliding from 16.1% last year to 13% this time around.
Clickshare for Sky Bet in third spot fell from 10.2% in 2025 to 8.3% this year, while Flutter sister brand Paddy Power’s percentage dipped from 9.6% last year to 8%, though this was enough to hold onto fourth position.
The pair’s shrinking clickshare may be partly be attributed to both brands shifting to near the bottom of the grid as part of a shakeup last summer.
Other noteworthy moves saw Betfred leap from 10th to sixth with 4.8% of clicks and Coral go from 11th to eight (3.7%), despite ending its long running sponsorship of Wednesday’s Coral Cup handicap hurdle.
Oddschecker pointed to Betfred’s aggressive ‘money back on the first race’ promotion as a reason for the “standout” gain.
Heading in the other direction, Betfair Exchange slipped one spot to seventh (4.6%) and BetVictor fell from seventh to 10th (2.9%).
In terms of most generous pricing, William Hill took the crown with the best odds on 263 runners over the course of the 28 races, closely followed by challenger bookmaker PriceUp (259) and bet365 (243).
Oddschecker also showed that Sky Bet “set the benchmark” for each-way betting by offering the most places – 131 in total – which was an increase of two year on year (YoY).
The nearest competitors were Paddy Power, BOYLE Sports and bet365 (tied on 118), closely followed by LivesScore Group’s Virgin Bet and LeoVegas Group-operated BetMGM (both 117).
Sky Bet offered an average of 4.68 places per race, ahead of Paddy Power, BOYLE Sports and bet365 with 4.21 places on average.
Despite Sky Bet having an average overround north of 140% throughout the Cheltenham Festival, which was some way above all rivals on oddschecker, the generous average place terms proved popular with punters.
PricedUp emerged as the best bookmaker for price generosity with an average overround of 128%. Second were BetVictor and William Hill, both on 129%.
Besides Betfred’s ‘money back on the first race’ promotion, the Warrington-based operator had the best-performing signup inducement with its ‘Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets’ offer, according to oddschecker.
BOYLE Sports with an identical offer was second, followed by kwiff with its ‘Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets’ promotion.
The best-performing retention offer was bet365’s ‘Daily Super Boost’ that gave odds of evens that the Gold Cup’s 11/4 joint-favourite, Gaelic Warrior, finished in the top five.
The Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old stormed up the Cheltenham hill to take the feature race of the meeting by eight lengths.
This year’s Cheltenham Festival left most punters with burnt fingers as just 30% of the most-backed ante-post favourites went on to win, oddschecker noted.
The average starting price of a winner was 14/1, which was the highest in the past seven years, while the winner at the longest odds was Martator who went off at 66/1 in the Premier Handicap.
Three of the four days went the way of the layers, with Wednesday the strongest day for margin thanks largely to the defeat of heavily backed Majborough at odds of 5/6 in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Tuesday’s Arkle had shaped up to be a clash between heavily supported favourites Lulamba (11/10) and Kopek Des Bordes (11/8), yet Kargese (7/1) didn’t read the script as she took the two-mile Grade 1 chase, much to the delight of the bookmakers.
Lossiemouth – the most-backed ante-post runner of the week – justified the late decision by connections to swerve the Mares Hurdle by landing the Champion Hurdle in impressive fashion at odds of 7/5.
Oddschecker reported that stakes placed through the affiliate on the Tuesday rose 18% YoY, while Friday’s Gold Cup achieved the single largest day for turnover.
Yet while staking levels were “relatively consistent” throughout the following three days of action at Prestbury Park, the affiliate said Friday’s stakes fell 5% YoY, “likely reflecting wallets being drained by an even tougher opening three days than the 2025 Festival”.
“Cheltenham Festival 2026 will be remembered as a bruising week for backers and a lucrative one for bookmakers,” oddschecker wrote.
EGR spoke to operators last week to gauge how they fared during an eventful Cheltenham Festival.
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Data shows William Hill took top spot for best prices and challenger firm PricedUp had the lowest average overround during what was “a bruising week for backers”
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