Sports Betting News: Royal Ascot Suffers Euro 2024 Betting Blow

The 2024 Royal Ascot meeting delivered some intriguing insights from a betting perspective, particularly with regards to competition from other sports events. 
 
Several horse racing betting sites in the United Kingdom reported mixed results due to punters switching their attention to football games at the European Championship. 
 
However, wagering in the World Pool was unaffected, with turnover hitting record levels during the prestigious five-day meeting. 
 
Read on as we look at the key betting takeaways from this year’s Royal Ascot before assessing other developments at the Berkshire racecourse. 

Betting on the first day at Royal Ascot benefitted from the lack of an early game at the tournament in Germany, with year-on-year turnover increasing on several races. 
 
However, while turnover held up well for the opening races on subsequent days, wagering levels dipped significantly as punters turned their attention towards football betting sites.  
 
Betting levels also dropped when broadcast coverage switched from ITV to ITV4, with punters choosing to stick with live football on the main channel. 

More than £144 million was wagered on the World Pool during Royal Ascot, with Gold Cup Day recording the highest turnover for any single day in 2024. 
 
A whopping £30.1m was staked on third day, highlighting the ongoing allure of the royal meeting to bettors worldwide. 
 
The Jersey Stakes on Saturday was the biggest betting race of the week on the World Pool, with £5.25m wagered on the Group 3 contest. 

The composition of the teams for the 2024 Shergar Cup at Ascot has been changed to ensure there is equal representation of male and female jockeys. 
 
The meeting on August 10 will feature a Rest of the World (ROW) team exclusively comprising women riders. They will compete against Europe, Great Britain & Ireland and Ladies teams. 
 
Rachel King (ROW), Bauyrzhan Murzabayev (Europe), Tadhg O'Shea (GB & Ireland) and Hayley Turner (Ladies) will captain the respective teams this year.