Women’s Euros set to be more popular with punters than Six Nations, survey shows

This summer’s Women’s Euros promises to be more popular with sports bettors than the Six Nations, Super Bowl and the Ashes, a new survey shows.

A new OLBG survey conducted by YouGov shows how bettors are likely to behave in 2025, including the most popular events to bet on, which regions of the country are most likely to gamble and how having kids affects betting behaviour.

The quarterly study asked 2,054 adults in the UK how they planned to bet this year.

Of people who said they were likely to gamble in 2025, 16% said they would bet on the Women’s Euros, which will take place in Switzerland in July, with England and Wales among the 16 teams in action.

That compares with only 9% who said they would bet on the Super Bowl, 10% who would bet on Rugby Union’s Six Nations and 6% who said they would bet on cricket’s Ashes series.

The data shows that 18% of men expect to bet on the Women’s Euros, compared with 11% of women.

Among the events specified, racing’s Grand National (48%) is the event of 2025 that most respondents said they would bet on, ahead of the FA Cup Final (33%), Champions League Final (29%) and Cheltenham Festival (22%).

OLBG CEO Richard Moffat said: “The surge in popularity of women’s football is well documented and it seems that betting patterns are starting to follow suit. Undoubtedly, the fact there’s a major tournament this summer including England and Wales will drive interest among bettors.

“It’s interesting to see that more people intend to bet on the Euros than some big, established, showpiece events in 2025 such as The Ashes, the Superbowl and the Six Nations.”

North West is the UK betting capital

Data shows 26% of people in the North West plan to place a bet on a sporting event during 2025 – the highest percentage region in the country.

The region with the next highest percentage of people planning to gamble this year is Yorkshire and the Humber, with 24%. Third is London (22%) ahead of Northern Ireland (21%).

According to the results, the region with the lowest appetite for betting is the South West, with just 13% of people saying they plan to gamble this year.

In the North West, the listed sporting event people are most likely to bet on this year is the FA Cup final (39%), ahead of the Champions League final (36%), followed by the Grand National (35%).

The picture is quite different in Yorkshire and the Humber, where 55% of potential bettors expect to bet on the Grand National, 25% on the FA Cup final and just 12% expect to bet on the Champions League final.

Interestingly, London is the region with the lowest percentage of people intending to bet on the Grand National, with just 31% but the highest percentage of people expecting to bet on the FA Cup final at 55%.

OLBG’s CEO Richard Moffat said: “It looks like the North will be the sports betting capital of the UK this year, with northern regions such as the North West and Yorkshire leading the way in terms of percentage of people planning to bet.

“The breakdown of events people plan to bet on is fascinating and it’s interesting that the two big football finals – the FA Cup final and Champions League final – are the most popular events in the North West. This is perhaps driven by fans of big clubs like Liverpool and Man City optimistically planning to back their teams in those showpiece events.”