Weekend Review: Bookies entertained by international football stalemates
Low scoring international football fixtures saw the layers come out on top
The bookies enjoyed an excellent weekend of trading as the international break failed to entertain punters with an abundance of low scoring bore draws.
England’s friendly with Germany and the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifier with Denmark ended 0-0, as did Northern Ireland’s second-leg qualifier against Switzerland.
Kindred’s Ali Gill said the firm experienced an extremely profitable weekend with the Republic of Ireland’s tie the highlight, as the match led to a margin of more than 60%.
“One goal across all four games was an ideal situation for the layers. The fact the one goal was scored by Sweden, one of our core markets, saw us take a smaller profit than maybe other bookmakers,” said Gill.
“The 0-0 theme continued at Wembley as a young England team took on Germany in another game uninspiring for the crowd, but it was enjoyed much more here at Kindred.”
It was a similar story for Ladbrokes which also benefitted from the weekend’s domestic football results.
Spokesperson Alex Apati said: “As far as football goes, it was a great weekend for our traders because 0-0 is always the best scoreline.
“Interest in the football league was higher than usual with no Premier League action, but with just 12 of the 29 games ending with both sides scoring, we made a lot domestically too.”
William Hill also experienced good turnover but Rupert Adams was left cursing the absence of Premier League football.
He said: “Although turnover was low this weekend in the absence of top level football, results were actually very good for us with a good percentage profit recorded for both Saturday and Sunday.
“Overall we had a very good weekend, it’s just a pity from our point of view that we didn’t get these excellent results on a higher turnover weekend!”
BetVictor’s Charlie McCann focused on the Grand Slam of darts which took place this weekend.
He said: “Despite Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld all coming back from 4-2 down to win 5-4, the competition has started well for us.
“The Rob Cross v Michael van Gerwen game last night was surely a taste of things to come over the next decade or so.”