Oddschecker insights: Operators set to experience kindest Q4 in three years
Soaking wet December should see bookies beat expectations after clearing up on horseracing
Favourable December sports betting margins look set to inspire a strong set of Q4 results for listed bookmakers, according to the latest data from Oddschecker.
Fourth quarter margins were boosted by December’s heavy rainfall, which led to a dearth of horseracing favourites delivering for punters during the wettest quarter since 2012.
Oddschecker reports that just 36% of favourites obliged across racecourses on Boxing Day 2019, including just one at each of the flagship meetings at Kempton and Leopardstown.
This included a loss for Cyrname who went off at 11/8 in the King George, as well as defeat for much-fancied Lost in Translation who was unplaced in the feature race of the week at odds of 2/1.
Source: Barclays/Oddschecker
Samcro, Laurina, Fakir D’oudairies, Fusil Raffles, Elegant Escape and Chacun Pour Soi were other notable favourites that failed to provide a silver lining for racing punters across the festive period.
William Hill and Rank Group are just two operators expecting Q4 finances to come in above analyst expectations after fourth quarter coffers were also boosted by some surprising football results.
Defeats for Chelsea at home to Southampton, Manchester City away at Wolves and dropped points for both Arsenal and Spurs and Bournemouth and Norwich wiped out the majority of accas on show.
The inconsistency of the top teams also trickled down into the Football League, where shock defeats for Leeds United, West Brom and Ipswich piled the misery on punters during a packed fixture list.
“Accumulators were tricky to land across the period while individual televised matches didn’t always provide the intended result for punters,” said Oddschecker.