Bet365 pays out £18 million in the first four weeks of ‘Sub On Play On’

The massive payout to customers continued during last Sunday’s Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, with the Catalan giants continuing their dominance over their rivals this season. 

Launched on 11 March, Sub On Play On has been an instant hit with punters, and a profitable one so far, with over 250,000 customers worldwide benefiting from the offer.

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The concession during football games means a bet on a player rolls over to another when they are substituted, similar to the Super Sub and Impact Sub features previously introduced by Paddy Power and William Hill, respectively. 

Bet365 has immediately added the new feature across 20 different countries for bets on the most popular football competition markets, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Champions League.

Steve Freeth, a sports and trading specialist at Bet365, said: “The Copa del Rey final was brutal, so much so it’s the most we’ve lost on Bet Builders since the 2022 World Cup Final!”

Barcelona’s 3-2 success in the cup final delivered 15 shots on target, 15 corners, six bookings, and four goals in normal time, followed by another 30 minutes of play in extra time and the winning goal for Hansi Flick’s side.

Freeth explained, “This was enough to do the damage with all the big guns except Rodrygo having shots on target, so step forward his half-time replacement, Kylian Mbappe, to not only hit the target but also to score as punters profited from our Sub On Play On concession.”

As stated above, bets placed on Real Madrid’s Rodrygo were ‘played on’ through Kylian Mbappe, with the France international star securing Real’s second goal of the game. 

Carlo Ancelotti’s men could not hold on though, as Barca prevailed once again with Jules Kounde’s late winner. 

They have had the upper hand over Real in all three clashes so far this season, including a convincing 5-2 win in the Spanish Super Cup in January and a satisfying 4-0 triumph at the Bernabeu last October. 

The last meeting of the season will take place on 11 May, with Barcelona currently leading their rivals by four points in the Spanish title race with just five games remaining.

In the Premier League, Aston Villa have proven to be the masters of the Sub On Play On feature, aided by Unai Emery’s changes in tactics and personnel.

As detailed by Bet365’s Freeth: “Villa fans must be rubbing their eyes at the quality that Unai Emery has to turn to when changing the game, and we’ve seen some big payouts in recent games versus Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Newcastle.”

“Our most expensive payout to date was £1.4 million, paid out on the (Nottingham) Forest game to be exact when Marcus Rashford replaced Ollie Watkins on 62 minutes and then had a shot on target which caused the real damage, while Jota Silva coming on for Anthony Elanga and scoring added to the pain.”

He added: “Against Southampton not only did we see Watkins, (replacing Rashford) fulfil ‘to score first/anytime’ markets as well as having a shot on target, we also saw fellow substitutes Donyell Malen (for Jacob Ramsey) and John McGinn (for Morgan Rogers) scoring in a 3-0 victory. 

“And then versus Newcastle we saw Amadou Onana and Ramsey coming on for the popular pair of Marco Asensio and McGinn, only to see the Belgian international score a piledriver and the Englishman being booked!” 

Betbuilders are here to stay, such is their popularity and prominence, with Sub On Play On seemingly on course to quickly become a permanent part of the offering.