Weekend Review: Bookies in clover as jollies rolled over

Sportsbooks were purring with delight this morning after a host of well-backed football teams were chinned on what eventually turned out to be a weekend to remember for the bookies.

On Saturday, odds-on shots including Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Burton Albion all failed to land the spoils, enabling operators to more than recoup losses from the day’s lunchtime kick-off.

Liverpool’s last-gasp 5-4 win at Norwich was hardly the start the layers had hoped for. Bet365 said Adam Lallana’s 95^th minute winner meant the operator had gone into the 3pm kick-offs ?3m behind.

And bet365 wasn’t the only operator counting the cost of the nine-goal thriller. “Our in-play traders were having kittens towards the end of the early kick off,” Jessica Bridge, Ladbrokes PR manager, said.

“We thought the Liverpool result would set the tone for the day but thanks to the lack of a Manchester double it burst many a coupon – United are the gift that keeps on giving as far as bookies are concerned,” she added.

The Liverpool game also proved expensive for Betfred, who said Roberto Firmino’s brace triggered a six-figure ‘Double Delight’ pay out – the bookie doubles the odds on the first goal scorer should he go on to bag a second.

However, kind results for the rest of the weekend, including two Super Sunday away wins, saw traders mount a fightback.

“That [Liverpool win] was it as far as bad results went on the Premier League,” Steve Freeth, bet365 trading PRO, said. “We ended Saturday with odds-on Man City drawing with Sunday defeats for Everton and Arsenal the icing on the cake,” he added.

And it was a similar story at William Hill. “Football was another cracking weekend for the bookmakers,” Rupert Adams, William Hill media relations officer, said.

“The three best backed teams on Saturday all failed to win while Sunday saw the two best backed sides, Arsenal and Everton, beaten,” he added.

BetVictor said the weekend’s football results meant its “racing losses were recovered in spades” after punters had poured in on its enhanced 4/1 treble of The New One, Un De Sceaux and Vroum Vroum Mag, which duly obliged.

“Boro losing and City failing to win were excellent results on Saturday while the results at Everton, Arsenal and Real Betis yesterday made it a Super Sunday for the layers,” Charlie McCann, BetVictor head of communications, said.

Sky Bet head of PR Sandro Di Michele said that bar a couple of big odds accumulators landing it had been a “tough weekend for punters” on the football.

“Just three of the 10 most popular football teams on Saturday with Sky Bet customers were victorious,” Di Michele said. “As you can imagine, this ensured we made a very healthy profit,” he added.

Elsewhere, Ladbrokes said Ricky Fowler’s win in the Abu Dhabi golf championship meant the firm avoided a monster pay out on Rory McIlroy, who finished two shots further back.

“At 4/1 we dangled the McIlroy carrot last week and filled the satchel, so Fowler holding his nerve to win in Abu Dhabi was greeted with cheers in north west London,” Bridge said.