The opening weekend of the
Fifa
World Cup caused havoc for several online betting sites as users were unable
to place bets during peak times, according to research from internet performance
company
Keynote
Systems.
BetUK,
Sporting
Odds,
Bet365
and
Betfair
all suffered problems with their sites.
BetUK was slow to load on the day the World Cup kicked off, and failed to
load at all during certain points in the afternoon and on Saturday night.
Research group
Nielsen//NetRatings
said that more than one million people went online on Saturday to read match
reports and place bets.
Keynote Systems said that the poor website performances could have influenced
where people placed their bets, offering an advantage to sites including
William
Hill,
Skybet
and
Betfred
which held up a lot better during the weekend.
"Sporting events like this present a massive market opportunity for the
gambling sites, and competition is fierce," said Haran Sold, EMEA managing
director at Keynote Systems.
"It is critical that they do not fall foul of increased demand or technical
glitches which can rear their heads at busy periods."
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