Weekend Review: Bookies cough up after Emirates goal fest

The Premier League returned with a bang this weekend but after a promising start bookies were left counting the cost of an Arsenal defence which shipped four goals against Liverpool on Sunday.

The weekend action begun well for bookies as champions Leicester City kicked-off their campaign with a surprise defeat to Premier League newcomers Hull City.

“The very well backed Leicester City getting chinned was our best result of the weekend,” said bet365’s Steve Freeth.

And Leicester’s defeat was just the start of a good Saturday for BetVictor with later results favouring the firm.

“The Foxes had previously been well backed to make a winning start to the new season, 20/23 from 11/10, but we saw plenty of weekend accas down before the 3pm KO’s, and those going in again left licking their wounds with three draws from the five afternoon fixtures,” said BetVictor’s Jack Milner.

However, results on Sunday turned in favour of the punters with all Premier League getting on the score sheet. And bet365 got burnt on its offer of a free in-play bet to the same value of those placed pre-match on Arsenal v Liverpool.

“The Sunday in-play offer on Arsenal v Liverpool cost us £5m, while Manchester United’s win on the south coast was also costly,” said Freeth.

Ladbrokes’ Jessica Bridge said two away wins in high scoring games was “costly”.

“Champions Leicester losing to the newly promoted Hull in the early Saturday bust coupons all over the country, before five draws in the 3pm kick offs meant we thought we had picked up the season where we left it off with bookie friendly results, but Sunday put pay to that,” she said.

William Hill said most of its winnings from a very good Saturday went back in the punters’ pockets with United and Liverpool well backed.

“Unfortunately for us it meant that we had to hand most of our Saturday profits back and the fact that both teams have scored in all the live matches means that we are hoping the same doesn’t happen at Stamford Bridge on Monday night,” said William Hill’s Joe Crilly.

Betway too saw Saturday’s profits vanish as punters took note of Arsenal’s inexperienced back line before the match kicked off. “The match itself was a bad one for us as punters speculated on goals and backed Liverpool on the basis of team news,” said Betway’s Alan Alger.

Meanwhile, Usain Bolt’s successful defence of his 100m crown in the early hours of the morning was not well received either, with Sky Bet recording “heavy losses” for the race.

“The only thing that saved heavier losses was him not breaking the world record and Yohann Blake not finishing third,” said Sky Bet’s Sandro Di Michele.

Unibet has already turned their focus to Bolt’s next races in fear of more damage.

“Bolt did the job again and was well backed but we have a much bigger liability on Bolt completing the treble which we had priced at 3.50 prior to the 100m and possibly only thing that could stop this now would be if Jamaica drop the baton,” said Unibet’s William Vickery.

Bet365 said the joy continued for the punters as Mo Farah and Andy Murray struck gold, while Justin Rose’s victory in the return of golf to the Olympics was “costly” at a double-figure price.