Weekend review: Grand National long shot has bookies smiling

Rule The World, a 33/1 outsider, pulled away from the joint favourite The Last Samurai in the late going at Aintree to give bookies a reason to celebrate on Saturday.

Bet365 said the Mouse Morris-trained winner helped “erase memories of a ?15m Cheltenham nightmare”, while several other bookies hailed a “dream result”.

“A 33/1 winner gave us the kind of script we didn’t dare hope for,” said Ladbrokes’ David Williams. “Punters had a tough day. After the pain of the Cheltenham Festival we’ve had much the better of it at Aintree. We’re leaving Merseyside feeling pretty pleased with how it’s panned out. The heavens opened but God looked down favourably on the bookies.”

Betfred’s Peter Spencer said that bookies across the country were celebrating, but not everyone got their share of the spoils, as BetVictor was hurt by each way bets.

Spokesperson Charlie McCann said: “For the sixth successive year we offered six places on the National and the additional places hurt us. Once again we lost on the race. That said we took an unprecedented number of bets from customers old and new and we are thrilled with our day despite losing on the great race!”

The late-night Masters drama saw a more mixed outcome for the layers, with bet365 and Ladbrokes hailing a positive result and turnover growth but other bookies taking a hit, as patriotic punters cashed in on Danny Willett.

Betfred said they had received around 300 bets on the Sheffield man at around 66/1, making him the most backed English golfer. As a result, his late surge up the leaderboard cost the firm even more than a Spieth win, leading to an overall loss.

SkyBet also took a hit thanks to its industry-leading offer of eight places on the tournament.

“Golf showed a loss of 10%, but huge YOY growth due to the offer,” said Sky Bet head of PR Sandro Di Michele. “Unsurprisingly the eight places were very costly – even more so when you have the likes of Westwood, Casey and Spieth up there.”

The weekend’s football was also roughly breakeven for the layers, with a successful Saturday in part thanks to Chelsea’s loss at Swansea, but profits were returned on Sunday, with popular favourites Leicester and Tottenham winning handily.

Saturday night was another peak in a weekend of top class sporting action, as Anthony Joshua made short work of his American opponent to become the IBF heavyweight champion.

Betfred said the fight captured the public’s imagination – although it didn’t quite reach the volume of the last Tyson Fury fight – with the majority of bettors taking a punt on Joshua’s opponent at 10/3.

SkyBet also reported that 55% of the stakes were on Charles Martin, but offered a price boost on a Joshua win in the first two rounds, costing the firm “heavy losses”.

Despite the ups and downs of the weekend, all firms reported excellent volume. “Customers who came to shops or downloaded the app to have a bet on the big race stuck around for the golf, football and boxing and we topped our acquisition targets several times over,” said Ladbrokes’ Alex Donohue. “In summary, one of the best weekends in a long while!”