Weekend Review: Villa and Everton spare bookies' blushes

Bookmakers had a Rudy Gestede goal to thank for a profitable weekend after his second-half strike for Aston Villa was enough to prevent a Leicester City win and put pay to a raft of Saturday football accumulators.

Sky Bet said the one-all draw saved the operator from a ?1m pay out after some customer-friendly 3pm results meant the firm had run up a seven-figure liability on Leicester to oblige in the early evening kick-off.

Leicester missed a spot-kick to take a two-nil lead and BetVictor head of communications Charlie McCann said the penalty was crucial in turning a “decent weekend into a very good one” for the bookmaker.

“Saturday’s football turned on the Leicester game at Villa with everyone wanting to be with the Foxes; that penalty miss from Riyad Mahrez was pivotal not only to the outcome of the game but to our Saturday football fortunes,” McCann said.

Betway also breathed a sigh of relief at the result with punters having either reinvested their afternoon winnings or looked to balance their books on the late kick-off by backing Claudio Ranieri’s men.

“Another draw, and a tempting Leicester price was the perfect storm for us to win on what overall was a good weekend,” Alan Algar, Betway PR manager, said.

Operators were also thankful of Chelsea being held at home to Everton, despite the two teams sharing six-goals when the game exploded into life during the second-half.

“We had lots of people backing Chelsea in accumulators and also a few desperately unlucky shrewd punters speculating that the Hiddink revival was a bit overplayed by backing the Toffees at a nice price,” Algar said.

Betfair said one punter scooped ?3,000 after cashing out his five-fold ?5 accumulator just seconds before John Terry plundered the 98^th minute equaliser. The customer would have won nothing had he let the bet ride until the final whistle.

Sky Bet head of PR Sandro Di Michele said the three-all draw saved the bookmaker ?1.2m, although for Ladbrokes it was an opportunity missed after the firm said it “couldn’t give Chelsea away”.

However, Ladbrokes did profit from Manchester United’s defeat of Liverpool on Sunday – a Liverpool win would have resulted in Ladbrokes’ biggest pay-out of the weekend.

“There was a big move for Liverpool on the day which we were happy to take on at the prices,” Alex Donahue, Ladbrokes PR officer, said.

“The game had limited impact on multiple bets as with no clear favourite it wasn’t a proposition for the majority of recreational accumulator fans, so the United winner, even with the goal coming from [Wayne] Rooney was a very welcome one,” he added.

Rooney was a popular pick for first goal scorer with many operators reporting his late strike had cost them dear – Betfred said the striker’s goal, which was United’s one effort on target, set it back more than ?100,000.

Coral PR director Simon Clare said Arsenal’s nil-nil draw at Stoke City meant bookies enjoyed a “good weekend” while William Hill PR man Rupert Adams also reported a profitable weekend’s trading with Manchester United’s win and Arsenal’s draw the pick of the results.

Outside of football, William Hill said Ronnie O’Sullivan’s victory in the snooker Masters came at a cost although this negative impact was offset in the cricket as England defeated South Africa inside three days – the bookie had been laying the draw for much of the match.

David Haye’s return to the boxing ring after a three-year absence had some bookies on the ropes. The Hayemaker’s first round stoppage of Mark de Mori on Saturday night cost Sky Bet ?300,000 after the operator offered customers the carrot of an enhanced price on a first-round knock-out.

Meanwhile most bookies reported kind racing results over the weekend, particularly with two big-priced runners obliging in two of the big races, the Coral.ie Hurdle and the Betfred Classic Chase.

However Betway said it had been stung by a number of bets on Russe Blanc (20/1) to win the Warwick Chase after the horse had been tipped up as a bet with Betway in a Friday newspaper.