Weekend Review: Premier League shocks sees bookies come out on top
A dramatic set of results in both football and athletics resulted in a good weekend for the layers
The Premier League returned in dramatic style to provide a “solid start” to the season for bookmakers in what is likely to prove a hugely important season for the sector.
Friday and Sunday went the way of the punters as title challengers and odds-on favourites Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United all won their opening games.
But Saturday proved the saving grace for the industry as Watford drew with Liverpool, Burnley beat champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and newly-promoted Huddersfield thrashed Crystal Palace.
Steve Freeth from Bet365 hailed shock results at Watford and Crystal Palace as “a solid start to the new season”, while other operators pointed to champions Chelsea losing to Burnley as a key result in the opening weekend.
“No shock that our biggest win came in the Chelsea – Burnley game, which was also an absolute coupon buster,” Kindred’s Ali Gill said.
Over at Ladbrokes punters benefited from a host of debut goals as the firm pushed Alvaro Morata, Mohammed Salah and Romelu Lukaku all to score at 6-1, but the firm was still happy with the way the games played out.
“Sunday’s results did favour punters with Man United and Spurs winning, but on the whole it was a solid weekend for the bookies,” Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati commented.
Away from football, Usain Bolt & Mo Farah’s shock defeats in the World Championship Athletics resulted in a healthy profit margin on the track for Kindred.
And a Justin Thomas victory was a good result for BetVictor in the final major of the PGA Golf with the place market showing a tidy profit.
Defeats for Norwich, Barcelona and Juventus on the Sunday also helped offset the firm’s losses from Tottenham’s win at Newcastle and Manchester United’s victory over West Ham.