Weekend Review: FA Cup upsets provide boost for bookies
Layers hail “solid weekend” as Liverpool suffer shock home defeat in the cup, while Ladbrokes experiences strong in-play turnover for Australian Open final
A host of upsets in the FA Cup ensured a strong weekend of trading for the bookies, which also saw good levels of turnover for the Australian Open tennis final.
Liverpool, whose draw against Plymouth Argyle in the previous round proved favourable for the layers, were once again the catalyst in what William Hill described as a “solid weekend” for the firm.
“Liverpool helped us out on Saturday with their shock loss to Wolves in the FA Cup whilst Newcastle and Brighton also losing made up for most of the other favourites all winning so Saturday was a reasonably good day for us overall,” said William Hill’s Rupert Adams.
BetVictor, which said it had a “great weekend”, added results across Europe were also kind for the bookmaker.
And Ladbrokes, official partner of the FA Cup, also saw high turnover over the weekend, particularly during Manchester United’s clash against Wigan Athletic aired live on the BBC.
“The results were excellent even though Wolves inspired plenty of fans to back underdogs in singles through the weekend,” Ladbrokes’ Alex Donohue said.
“Many football fans questioned the decision to show United on the BBC but there’s a huge spike in in play turnover when big teams play on free to air channels and punters who didn’t see the upsets coming got a bit back as United won as expected.”
Down Under in the tennis, Lads said the final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal generated plenty of in-play turnover and proved a good result for the bookie.
“It was ideal in that there wasn’t a huge difference with Djokovic and Murray out and we kept their ante post bets,” Donohue added.
However, Federer’s 18th Grand Slam title proved less favourably for BetVictor.
“Roger Federer was our worst result in the outright book as we just couldn’t see him coming back from a six-month lay-off but after his win against Kei Nishikori it seemed fate that he would meet Nadal, possibly for the last time, in a major final,” said BetVictor’s Charlie McCann.
And in the horseracing, BetVictor said it had a “decent” weekend, one overshadowed by the death of 2015 Grand National winner Many Clouds after the Cotswold Chase. “He will be sorely missed by all involved with the sport,” added McCann.