Weekend Review: Punters paid handsomely as football favourites sweep the board
Zero upsets in the Premier League sees Kindred absorb one of its biggest losing days ever
The bookies were well and truly bashed this weekend after all of the favourites in the Premier League won their respective matches.
Wins for Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton made Saturday one of Kindred Group’s top 10 losing days ever across all sports.
Spokesperson Ali Gill said: “The lack of any shocks meant there was barely a Kindred win in sight, with Southampton v Man Utd being very comfortably our biggest hit.
“The trend continued abroad with eight of our 10 biggest global football events in terms of turnover all going the way of the punter.”
Bet365’s Steve Freeth revealed the firm was down £7m after Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy missed a penalty to all but secure a 3-2 victory for Liverpool.
He said: “On Wednesday, Real Betis rode to our rescue with their win over Read Madrid preventing a monster midweek multi-million pound pay-out, but there was no such luck on Saturday.”
BetVictor’s Jack Milner agreed, adding: “Saturday was a disaster with all the fancied sides winning in the Premier League and bookmakers twice given a lifeline, only for it to be cruelly taken away.
“Everton’s come-from-behind win at home to Bournemouth was expensive but not as much as Jamie Vardy’s penalty miss that saw Liverpool win at the King Power Stadium.”
Results were just as bad for Kindred Group away from the football as patriotic Brits backed the cricket team to beat the West Indies while Betfred’s Matt Crosby revealed a few lucky punters got on Moeen Ali to top score, with the majority backing Root, Gayle and Bairstow.
BetVictor’s poor Saturday was reversed on the Sunday following Brighton’s win over Newcastle and Paul Casey throwing away the Tour Championship, before rookie Xander Schauffele, backed by less than 1% of pre-event bets, won the season finale of the PGA Tour.
Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati said: “We couldn’t have asked for a better result in the Tour Championship itself with Xander Schauffele winning.
“He was 100/1 heading into the competition and was hardly backed by anyone, meaning it was a great weekend for our golf traders.”