Ireland loves sport. Those three words do not do nearly enough justice to how passionately many Irish people feel about their favorite sport.
Football, horse racing, rugby union, and the Gaelic Games are the most popular sports in Ireland, with each boasting massive followings.
It would be fair to say that Ireland’s love of sports has also had a significant impact on the gambling industry – in simple terms, Irish citizens love to wager!
Advancements in smartphone technology and improved Wi-Fi connectivity have opened the door to 24/7/365 wagering, meaning Irish sports fans can fuel their passion for sports on betting apps like never before.
With that in mind, we look at the best sports for mobile betting in Ireland, starting with one that is undoubtedly part and parcel of daily life in the Emerald Isle.
Horse Racing
The Irish thoroughbred breeding and racing industry was worth almost €2.5 billion to the economy last year, highlighting its importance to the country.
Racing is one of Ireland’s most popular spectator sports, with meetings during the flat and National Hunt seasons always extremely well attended.
Mobile bettors can wager on Irish racing throughout the year, with online sportsbooks offering odds on all the meetings that take place on the flat and over jumps.
Top flat trainer Aidan O’Brien is hugely popular with bettors, firing in endless winners on the back of having one of Ireland’s top breeding operations behind him.
Willie Mullins is undoubtedly the man to follow over jumps, although the Closutton-based trainer has also started to have more runners on the flat in recent years.
The Irish Derby, Irish Grand National, and Punchestown Festival are among the big betting events of the year in Ireland, but they are overshadowed by a major event in the United Kingdom.
The annual Cheltenham Festival in March is THE meeting most Irish mobile sports bettors look forward to, with the country’s top trainers regularly winning races at the prestigious meeting.
Football
Football betting is hugely popular in Ireland, although not quite in the same way as many other major gambling jurisdictions worldwide.
The League of Ireland is the top competition in the country, but its lack of quality does not make it an appealing proposition from a betting perspective.
By contrast, Irish punters love wagering on the English Premier League, with sports betting apps offering a vast array of markets on every game throughout the season.
Many Irish sports fans support English clubs, with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal boasting sizeable followings in the Emerald Isle.
However, when it comes to identifying which team generates the most traffic on the best betting apps for football there is one clear winner – the men’s national team.
Fans pack out the stadium whenever Ireland plays at home, while thousands of supporters follow them overseas for European Championship and World Cup matches.
Although Ireland has never won a major tournament, that does not stop punters from backing them in the hope of them one day springing a major surprise.
Rugby Union
Rugby union has a massive following in Ireland, with the men’s national team unquestionably one of the best supported in the world.
They garner massive interest among bettors whenever they play in major tournaments such as the Six Nations Championship or Rugby World Cup.
Ireland have delivered plenty of winning returns to punters in the Six Nations Championship, claiming the title on 15 occasions. Their tally includes four Grand Slams.
However, despite being currently ranked as the third-best team in the world, Ireland has repeatedly come up short in the Rugby World Cup.
They were joint favorites with hosts France to lift the trophy this year but were dumped out of the tournament by eventual winners New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
Ireland’s four provincial teams – Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connacht – also attract plenty of interest among bettors in the various competitions they contest.
The quartet competes in the United Rugby Championship, the European Rugby Champions Cup, and the EPCR Challenge Cup, each of which is covered extensively on sports betting apps.
Gaelic Sports
While Gaelic sports are played in numerous countries across the world, they are unquestionably most popular where they originated – Ireland.
Gaelic football, hurling, handball, and rounders are the sports in question, with the first two attracting the biggest interest from a mobile sports betting perspective.
Their annual major tournaments are organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and have huge followings among sports fans and bettors in Ireland.
Each sport stages prestigious All-Ireland Senior Championships each year, which is the premier inter-county competition staged under the GAA banner.
The finals are played at Croke Park in Dublin and always attract a sell-out crowd to watch the best exponents of Gaelic football and hurling in action.
Kerry and Dublin are the big two teams in Gaelic football, collectively winning the title 69 times out of the 138 championships that have been staged.
Kilkenny, Cork, and Tipperary are considered to be the big three teams in hurling, racking up 94 titles from the 136 tournaments played.
