Black Weekend For UK Bookmakers

The weekend of  the 11th of January 2014 ( Premier League match day 21) proved to be a nightmare for UK sports betting operators, as reports suggest that bookmakers made a combined loss of more than £30 million (€36.2 million/$49.3 million).

All top eight English Premier League sides managed to beat their respective opponents. The weekend soccer action saw no upsets or draws for the top seven Barclays Premier League sides – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United. Although the teams would attract the shortest odds, as favourites they would attract the most wagering, and with a soft weekend fixture list (no top sides faced each other during the weekends action), the fixture list made it an attractive proposition to betting accumulators.

Gibraltar based bookmaker Coral, reported that one lucky punter had won more than £40,000 of a £2 wager. Coral further claimed that the weekends action had caused the operator to pay 50 winning bets between £2,000 and £50,000, the set of results in the English Premier League make it not the ideal start to 2014 for UK sports betting operators

UK sports betting operator Ladbrokes estimated that the set of seven results cost UK betting companies over £20 million, while rival Coral said the total bill could reach £30 million.“We estimate one million accumulators were landed on the top teams across the industry and there was a £20 million-plus payout from British bookmakers,” Ladbrokes said. “It was a case of seven being the lucky number with the Premier League’s top seven teams all winning.”

Ladbrokes also said one customer had made £30,000 from a £20 accumulator, while another won £18,000 from a £5 bet.