Weekend Review: Royal Ascot upsets help bookies to a bumper weekend

Record turnover and some favourable results at Royal Ascot helped bookies bank a healthy profit over the weekend.

Kindred reported a 13% margin on the five-day flat festival following “record turnover”, while BetVictor also reported favourable results, but “not quite the bloodbath for punters many have suggested”.

Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati added: “Overall Ascot results went in our favour with a number of bankers such as Order Of St George and Churchill getting turned over early on.

“Winter and Caravaggio gave punters a much needed boost on Day Four, but with Limato getting beaten in the final feature race, we came out in front.”

The firm also narrowly escaped a £1m payout on a £5 accumulator, with the punter getting six of seven selections correct before Bound For Nowhere lost in the 15:40 on Friday.

“As you can imagine, that would’ve had a huge impact on things!” Apati added.

The Lions’ 30-15 defeat to the All Blacks also padded margins, with patriotic punters piling into the touring side at 7/2 and pushing the handicap down from +11 to +10 at BetVictor.

“The line is 14 for the 2^nd Test this weekend and it will be interesting to see how punters try and recoup their first test losses,” BetVictor’s Charlie McCann said.

Elsewhere, Kindred reported good profits from England’s victory in the T20 cricket series against South Africa, while Andy Murray’s early defeat at Queens was another bonus.

Punters found some respite in Formula 1  with Daniel Ricciardo winning as an 80/1 poke triggering some “decent four and five figure payouts” over at bet365.

A quiet weekend of football saw more interest than usual in the Confederations Cup, where Australia did the layers a favour by holding the well-backed Chile side to a draw. The footy punters did manage to claw a chunk back with Mexico’s 2-1 win over hosts Russia.