Tiger Roll costs bookies £250m by winning the Grand National

Tiger Roll made history on Saturday afternoon as it became the only horse since Red Rum to achieve back-to-back victories at the Grand National. A record that remained unbroken for 45 years.

Saturday’s winner, ridden by Davy Russell, was heavily backed at odds of just 4/1 and delighted punters after romping home by two and three-quarter lengths in an exciting finish.

Tiger Roll’s victory left bookies out of pocket with Betway’s spokesman Alan Alger believing the result was the worst ever, costing an estimated quarter of a billion pounds.

Alger said: ‘The quarter-of-a-billion-pound bombshell has landed. Tiger Roll has gone back to back and inflicted the most expensive result in Grand National history.

People have been backing this horse since he got his head in front here last year, and he will go down as the greatest ever result for punters.

‘There’s been a few favourable results across the week for us bookies. But it was always going to come down to the National – and we’ve been well and truly wiped out.”

The costly blow was cushioned somewhat by outsiders Magic of Light (66/1) and Walk in the Mill (25/1) both placing in 2nd and 4th.

Ladbrokes’ Nicola McGeady commented: “Tiger Roll is the most popular Grand National winner since Red Rum.

Time and time again, the Gordon Elliott-trained superstar has rewarded punters, and today’s victory is the sweetest one yet.

‘It’s never good for the bookies when the favourite wins – but thanks to the places, we avoided taking too heavy a beating.”

As well as many punters filling their pockets from Saturday’s result, matched bettors also had their share of the profits thanks to a handful of profitable offers from the bookmakers.

Bet365 were the bookie to provide the stand-out promotion, offering customers a 50% refund as cash on each-way bets up to a whopping £125. Many were able to apply no risk matched betting strategies to lock in profits of over £80 from this one offer alone, regardless of the result.

Matched betting profits from the Grand National contributed to a successful couple of months for matched bettors with many making significant amounts from the Cheltenham Festival in March. Major sporting events such as these can return big profits with many more scheduled in the coming months such as Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, the Champions League Final and the Rugby World Cup.

If you’d like to learn more about matched betting and how it’s possible to lock in a profit from bookmaker promotions regardless of whether your bets win, you can sign up to MatchedBets.com for 14 days for just £1 via our homepage.