Top gainers

Ireland +78.9% — The Cheltenham Festival (Mar 10–13) dominated Irish search intent for the week. Ireland’s trainers won the Prestbury Cup 15–13 over Great Britain, with Willie Mullins delivering headline victories including the Gold Cup. Virgin Media One carried free live coverage, and almost every major bookmaker ran aggressive promotional campaigns targeting Irish punters. 

Hungary +30.3% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced.

United Kingdom +29% — The UK side of the Cheltenham Festival effect. Major sportsbooks — bet365, Coral, William Hill, BetMGM — ran dedicated Cheltenham promotions with enhanced odds, free bet offers, and Super Boosts across all four racing days. The Festival remains the single largest annual driver of UK horse racing betting volume.

Nepal +28.7% — Nepal appeared as a –26.5% decliner in last week’s report. The current +28.7% rebound is a clean mean-reversion: no Nepal-specific regulatory or sporting trigger surfaced within the reporting window. 

Malaysia +28.1% — Like Nepal, Malaysia fell –12.4% in the prior week and has now recovered most of that loss. No clear country-specific trigger surfaced. 

Top decliners

Quebec (CA-QC) –32.4% — No other country-specific trigger surfaced. Quebec’s Relâche scolaire (spring break) fell on Mar 2–6; the reporting week is the first full work/school week after the holiday, which may have compressed leisure-driven search activity.

Singapore –21.2% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced.

AU-Western Australia –20.7% — AU-WA surged +27.4% in the prior week (second among all gainers). No replacement sporting or regulatory trigger surfaced, and the decline reads as a clean mean-reversion from that elevated baseline.

Guinea –20.7% — No clear country-specific trigger surfaced.

Croatia –17.4% — Croatia’s new Gambling Law is in active implementation. Measures taking effect in 2026 include a mandatory player identification system, a national self-exclusion register, a ban on gambling ads between 6am and 11pm, and a progressive tax on winnings reaching 30% above €70k. 

Market spotlight: Ireland | +78.9%

Ireland’s +78.9% WoW surge is the largest single-market percentage gain in this week’s Blask Index. The timing maps precisely to the Cheltenham Festival (Mar 10–13), jump racing’s most important annual event and, for Ireland, a near-national obsession. Ireland did not feature in the prior week’s top movers, which makes this a clean event-driven spike rather than a continuation of an existing trend.

The mechanism is direct. Cheltenham generates massive cross-platform media coverage in Ireland: free-to-air broadcasting on Virgin Media One, dedicated programming on Racing TV, and saturation coverage across print, online, and social media. Every major bookmaker — Paddy Power, BoyleSports, Betfair, bet365 — ran Cheltenham-specific promotions. The competitive angle intensified interest further: Ireland’s trainers took the Prestbury Cup 15–13, with the outcome hanging on the final race when Henry De Bromhead’s Air Of Entitlement prevented a draw. Willie Mullins delivered multiple headline winners including Gold Cup champion Gaelic Warrior. These narratives dominated Irish media and social feeds throughout the week.

The forward-looking implication is a near-certain mean-reversion next week. Cheltenham is a four-day fixture with no direct follow-up of comparable scale. The Aintree Grand National (Apr 10–12) is the next major UK/Irish racing event, sitting nearly a month away. Expect Ireland’s index to drop sharply — potentially back below 1,000,000 — as the event gravity dissipates. The question for sustained signal is whether Cheltenham promotional campaigns drive lasting user acquisition for Irish operators, but that would manifest over months, not in next week’s data.

Regional snapshot

Europe

Cheltenham dominated the European picture, with Ireland (+78.9%) and the UK (+29.0%) delivering the region’s strongest gains. Hungary (+30.3%), Slovenia (+28.0%), and Lithuania (+18.9%) added further momentum. On the downside, Croatia (–17.4%) absorbed the impact of its new gambling law, and North Macedonia (–16.2%) mean-reverted after last week’s +28.2% surge. Europe was the most active region in this week’s top 10, accounting for seven of the ten gainers and four of the ten decliners.

Asia-Pacific 

The region split between recovering markets and structural headwinds. Nepal (+28.7%) and Malaysia (+28.1%) bounced back from prior-week declines. India (–16.3%) dropped as the T20 World Cup high unwound — the final was played on Mar 8, and the reporting week had no replacement cricket hook — while Singapore (–21.2%) extended its decline for the second consecutive week. The overall regional tone was flat, with mean-reversion offsetting post-event and regulatory compression.

Africa 

Africa’s presence in the top movers was limited to Guinea (–20.7%) on the decliner side and Botswana (–13.6%), which mean-reverted after last week’s +12.0% gain. Somalia (+20.4%) appeared in the gainers at position seven but on a small absolute base. No clear continental trend emerged; movements were market-specific with no shared catalyst.

Next week watchlist

Ireland / United Kingdom

Post-Cheltenham mean-reversion. With no comparable racing fixture until Aintree (Apr 10), expect sharp declines in both markets. Ireland could drop 30–50% as the event gravity dissipates. The UK will moderate but its Premier League and Champions League football baseline provides a floor.