SOFTSWISS Sportsbook reports high betting margins during UEFA Euro 2024 

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2024 has been a huge success, boasting the highest betting margins of any major football event this year, according to SOFTSWISS Sportsbook, an award-winning sports betting software provider.  

SOFTSWISS Sportsbook’s analysis of the tournament’s group stage reveals a 17.3% betting margin for Euro 2024, surpassing even the UEFA Champions League 2024 by nine percentage points. Interestingly, the most popular betting markets were straightforward: match winner and total goals scored, with the latter registering a 15.5% margin.   “This suggests that bettors are primarily interested in straightforward, outcome-based wagers and performance-based metrics. These markets are likely attractive to bettors because they are simple and easy to understand. However, despite their straightforward nature, the high margins indicate that predicting the outcomes can be challenging,” explains Alexander Kamenetskiy, Head of SOFTSWISS Sportsbook.    Further analysis by SOFTSWISS Sportsbook identified the top five matches with the highest betting margins, including Netherlands vs France, Belgium vs Slovakia, Austria vs France, Denmark vs England, and Netherlands vs Austria. A deeper dive into these fixtures will be crucial to understanding the contributing factors, such as unexpected results, specific bet types with high margins, or significant public miscalculations.  

Betting trends revealed a clear mobile dominance, with 77% of bets placed via mobile devices. This confirms the ever-increasing preference for mobile betting and the growing shift towards smartphones and tablets.  

Furthermore, combo bets, where bettors predict multiple outcomes in a single wager, accounted for 40% of all bets placed. However, these bets come with a significantly higher margin for sportsbooks, averaging four times that of single bets. Despite the lower average value compared to single bets, combo bets play a vital role in sportsbook profitability.   “The difference between tournaments of this level and others is the high number of new players, who bet only on the Euro and then stop until the World Cup,” says Kamenetskiy. “That is why operators carefully design their intro bonus programs to show new players all the available features. Since combo bets have higher margins, encouraging them through special offers or loyalty rewards could be very profitable.”   Beyond its insights, SOFTSWISS Sportsbook recently launched its mobile app in Serbia and introduced a free Sportsbook Budget Calculator resource.  

WHAT’S NEXT: SiGMA East Europe Summit powered by Soft2Bet, happening in Budapest from 2 – 4 September.