England’s win against Mexico amplifies hype ahead of Norway quarter final clash
I think just about everyone has come down from cloud nine after England’s historic 3-2 win at Estadio Azteca on Monday … kind of. We’re still pretty hyped up here in the Manchester SBC News offices.
Five goals, two penalties, a red card, an hour kick off delay and 18 minutes of stoppage time played – but that doesn’t even begin to tell the full story of what was a bonafide World Cup classic.
Through the heroics of every one of the 16 England players that stepped foot on the pitch in front of 80,000 people in Mexico City, the Three Lions are through to the quarter final, and while it was a memorable night for all who braved the 2:00am start, it was also a night for the history books for UK bookies – but maybe not for the same positive reasons as those of the fans.
Flutter Entertainment-owned Sky Bet reportedly paid out some £11.6m on the match, despite the seriously inconvenient kick off time. It was a sentiment shared by Geoff Banks, operator of the Geoff Banks Bet business, who cited it as “our most expensive loss in any football match”.
Meanwhile fellow UK heritage bookmaker Betway had a similar sense of apprehension about the night at the Azteca. Lewis Knowles, PR Manager, told SBC News that the Round of 16 tie on Monday “was obviously not a bookmaker friendly result”.
We caught up with him in full after the match.
SBC: Which markets were popular? With England being favourites, were people expecting a shock pre-game?
Knowles: “It definitely wasn’t one-way business for England, and we actually made a profit on the To Qualify market in singles, for example.
“Healthy business on the side markets but mostly punters concentrated on the usual favourites – WDW, BTTS, Total Goals and Team Total Goals, Goalscorer markets, Corners, Cards etc.”
SBC: What about player markets? Kane and Bellingham had been popular picks for goals and SOTs in earlier rounds. Was that the same for last night’s match?
Knowles: “It really was, and they duly obliged for punters once again. Lots of bet builders combining them for goals and assists, both teams to score etc, it really was a bit of a nightmare result for all bookmakers I suspect.”
SBC: Obviously, kick off time didn’t help and you would’ve expected a drop-off in in-play betting compared to what you’d have at a more traditional kick off time. But were you surprised in any way with the amount of in-play activity?
Knowles: “We’ve been very pleasantly surprised actually. In-play Activity, even on those very late games has been strong, and it seems a lot of people have been staying up to follow the games live.”
Many may be surprised at that, in fairness. The match resulted in “the biggest day ever recorded for BBC iPlayer, for the BBC Sport website and app and for BBC Sport’s social video views”.
The BBC attracted a peak live audience of a mind-boggling 9.1 million viewers, meaning there would have been some severely tired employees by the time it reached 9:00am on Monday morning.
It’s safe to say that this was unprecedented given the broadcast time, surpassing the previous audience record set for a programme at that time – Mo Farah’s 10,000m victory at the Rio 2016 Olympics – by some 6 million viewers.
That viewing figure will likely be blown out of the water when England take on Norway in the quarter finals, given that kick off is at 10:00pm on a Saturday night.
Betway, like other bookmakers, may be expecting huge numbers for that game once again.
SBC: There’ll be a real buzz in England as we approach the Norway quarter final clash. Do you have any promotions planned for the game at the weekend?
Knowles: “There will be a real buzz, especially with the game being at a much more reasonable time in the evening, and especially on a Saturday.
“We’re aiming to offer plenty of boosted specials on the game through our BetwayBoosts promotion, and even though we got our fingers burnt on the Mexico game, we’ll be very competitive on all those key markets punters will want to combine in bet builders and accumulators.”
SBC: Winning at the Azteca feels like a big statement for England. Has there been an influx of bets on England to win the tournament since the Round of 16 win?
Knowles: “There was actually a bit of a flurry in the run-up to kick-off, but that really spiked after the final whistle, and it seems fans are really believing now that England can go all the way.
“We’ve still taken more bets on France and Spain, as punters were sceptical of England pre-tournament and during the group stages, but support has really ramped up over the last 48 hours, and we expect that to continue all the way through to Saturday night’s game now.”
SBC: There’s been a lot of talk regarding the World Cup potentially being a record-breaking one in terms of revenue generation for sportsbooks. Have you got that feeling from the tournament so far?
Knowles: “It’s certainly going to break all records in terms of turnover. I think the soundbite from Donald Trump is that ‘every game is like a Superbowl’.
“In terms of profitability, there would still be a fair way to go. Obviously the England-Mexico game was not a bookmaker friendly result, and the average number of goals was very high in the group stages of the tournament. However, we’ve made some decent profits so far overall, so it’s not all doom and gloom.”
As we approach Saturday’s game, England fans will be hoping for more of the same from Real Madrid superstar, Jude Bellingham, who put in one of the greatest performances ever seen in an England shirt at the Azteca.
It also represents a clash between arguably the two best strikers in world football in Harry Kane and Erling Haaland.
On the back of England’s result in Mexico and Norway’s herculean win against Brazil, which saw goals from all three players mentioned above, bet builders are sure to be a popular target for consumers again.
While bookmakers have been stung by some unfavourable results so far this World Cup, it will still be vital for them to attract audiences.
But how do they stand out in such a competitive market?
SBC: How difficult is it to stand out at such a key moment? How have you tried to win customers or keep them on board throughout the tournament?
Knowles: “It’s always challenging during a major tournament, but we’ve been very competitive on the core match markets as well as the outrights, and with our 2up and Super Sub offerings pre-match and in-play, we’ve hopefully offered plenty of value for our customers so far.”
For operators, Monday morning may have represented another tough day of business, but for England, it was perhaps one of the side’s grittiest, gutsiest and most memorable wins of all time.
Onto Norway in Miami…
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