In the United Kingdom, the 170th running of the annual Grand National horse racing extravaganza took place over the weekend from the Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool with digital gaming provider NYX Gaming Group revealing that the Sunday saw it handle more than 24 million sports wagers via its OpenBet platform.

Las Vegas-based NYX Gaming Group, which earlier this month entered into a multi-year partnership with Nederlandse Loterij before inking a similar arrangement with online gaming operator GVC Holdings, declared that last weekend represented its busiest period of the year with OpenBet processing a total of 74 million account transactions during the three-day horseracing event.

In addition, the firm explained that the number of account transactions placed via its OpenBet platform over the weekend represented an increase of 22% year-on-year while the Saturday saw the innovation processing some 68,000 bets every minute at its peak, which was a rise of 10% when compared with the same period in 2016.

“The Grand National is a major event for our United Kingdom customers and months of preparation precedes the day itself,” read a statement from Matt Davey, Chief Executive Officer for NYX Gaming Group. “The race places huge demands on our industry and our key focus is enabling our customers to offer the quality of service and experience that players demand.”

Davey moreover announced that the weekend of the Grand National saw a swell in the percentage of wagers being placed via OpenBet using a mobile device to 76% while he offered some comparison by disclosing that the platform behind online shopping service Amazon had handled about 36,000 transactions per minute during the same Saturday afternoon when his company’s innovation was racking up 68,000.

“Grand National day is by far the busiest day of the year for any bookmaker,” read a statement from Chris McCoy, Head Of Sports Integration for online sports betting provider Paddy Power Betfair. “We have to deliver a best-in-class player experience across all channels. Saturday was fantastic for us and the reliability and performance of OpenBet’s sportsbook was a key part of that success.”

NYG Gaming Group furthermore proclaimed that the four days around the equally-prestigious Cheltenham Festival horse racing spectacular in March had seen its OpenBet platform handle approximately 35 million sports bets along with some 227 million account transactions.

“OpenBet’s efforts over the past couple of months and on Saturday itself have helped us prepare for and achieve yet another record-breaking Grand National result,” read a statement from Richard Flint, Chief Executive Officer for online sports betting provider Sky Betting And Gaming. “Expectations are always high and once again another flawless execution was delivered with great stability.”