London, March 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the Cheltenham Festival just days away, new research from Optimove Insights is giving UK sportsbook operators a data-driven blueprint for capitalizing on the most commercially intense four days in the jump racing calendar.
The Optimove Insights Cheltenham Festival 2026 Pre-Event Report draws on a sample of 68.8 million bets placed across multiple UK sportsbook brands during the 2025 Festival, benchmarked against a neutral non-event week in January, to reveal the true scale of player behavior shifts that define this annual event. The full report can be accessed here.
Key Findings
The 2025 Cheltenham Festival produced uplifts across every major performance indicator:
- Daily active bettors ran 178%–189% above baseline across all four Festival days, a sustained surge, not a one-day spike
- First-time depositors (FTDs) hit 310%–417% above baseline, peaking on St Patrick's Thursday at more than four times a typical January day
- Average wager per bettor climbed 109%–133% above baseline, peaking on Gold Cup Day, signaling higher staking intensity, not just higher volume
- Activity normalized quickly after Gold Cup Day, underscoring the importance of capitalizing within the event window
According to Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove, "Every major betting event produces the same three-tier player pool. At the top, you have your regular players who are loyalists and will always engage without receiving marketing messages. At the bottom, there are the one-and-done players who placed a bet because the occasion made it feel exciting, and they won't be back. But in the middle sits what we call the ‘Moveable Middle’ players who could go either way. Some of them have the profile and the intent to become genuinely valuable, loyal players. Others will fade just like the bottom tier. The sportsbooks with the right analytics will know the difference within days of the Festival ending. That's where the marketing battle is won or lost... not by spending more, but by spending smarter, on the right people, at the right moment."
Positionless Marketing is imperative to ensure marketers connect with sportsbook bettors in real time with relevant messaging. Positionless Marketing frees marketing teams from the limitations of fixed roles, giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently. It has been proven to reduce campaign execution time from 5 days to 5 minutes in iGaming.
Five Priorities for Sportsbook Operators Ahead of the 2026 Festival
Based on the 2025 data, Optimove's report outlines five operational priorities for sportsbooks looking to maximize the 2026 Festival window:
- Segment Before the Surge
Preparation must begin well before Champion Day. Likely racing bettors, cross-sell candidates, dormant users, and high-propensity first-time depositors should already be identified and structured into pre-built journeys. Event success favors operators who enter the week organized, not reactive. - Differentiate Cohorts in Real Time
Cheltenham traffic is not homogenous. Existing racing bettors, football cross-sell bettors, and first-time depositors behave differently and require different engagement strategies. Real-time cohort updates and dynamic messaging are essential to capitalize on heightened intent during the event window. - Treat First-Time Deposit Growth as the Beginning, Not the Win
The sharp spike in first-time depositors represents expanded audience reach, but normalization happens quickly. A structured 30-day onboarding and cross-sell strategy should already be in place before the Festival begins. The objective is not just conversion, it is loyalty formation. - Identify True Value Signals During Elevated Wager Periods
Average wager per bettor rose significantly during the Festival. Some increases reflect temporary excitement; others may indicate long-term value potential. Operators should use behavioral signals during the event to reassess value tiers and nurture high-potential segments accordingly. - Plan the Post-Festival Landing
The data shows activity dips quickly after Gold Cup Day. Without deliberate follow-up communication and cross-sell planning, momentum fades. A structured post-event retention wave can prevent reversion to baseline from becoming churn.
Report Methodology
Betting trend analysis for the Cheltenham Festival 2025 draws on a sample of 68.8 million bets placed across multiple UK brands during the Festival period. Results were benchmarked against a neutral, non-event week in January, based on daily performance. The analysis covers the Festival itself (11–14 March 2025) and one week before and after the event. The full report can be accessed here.
About Optimove
Optimove is the creator of Positionless Marketing and the #1 Player Engagement Solution for iGaming and sports betting operators. Positionless Marketing frees marketing teams from the limitations of fixed roles, giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently. Positionless Marketing has been proven to improve campaign efficiency by 88%, allowing marketing teams to create more personalized engagement with existing customers.
For two years running, Optimove has been positioned as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, recognized for its AI-driven decisioning, prescriptive insights, and proven ability to orchestrate thousands of personalized campaigns in real time across channels. AI-led marketing is a hallmark of Optimove’s visionary leadership.
By embedding AI directly into its platform as early as 2012, Optimove paved the way for today’s Positionless Marketing standard. Its Positionless Marketing Platform includes Optimove Engage and Orchestrate for cross-channel campaign decisioning and orchestration; Optimove Personalize, a digital personalization engine; and Optimove Gamify, a loyalty and gamification platform.
Today, its comprehensive AI-powered suite is at the leading edge of empowering marketers to streamline workflows from Insight to Creation and through Optimization. Optimove provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for leading consumer brands globally.
About Optimove Insights
Optimove Insights is the analytical and research arm of Optimove, dedicated to providing valuable industry insights and data-driven research to empower B2C businesses.
Olivia Arruda Optimove 8585881053 olivia_a@optimove.com
