Weekend Review: England’s victory leaves punters wild and bookies riled

England beat Sweden 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup on Saturday with bookies racking up heavy losses, but thankful for several saving graces, with both Sweden and Harry Kane failed to find the net.

William Hill’s Rupert Adams told EGR: “The England match was pretty bad but could have been worse.

“We were relieved Sweden didn’t score thanks to Jordan Pickford, and obviously Kane would have been bad. A 2-1 England win would have meant an extra half million at least.

“If Kane had scored first, then 3-1 England was our disaster scenario and it would have been even worse with a Kane hat-trick. We’d have been looking at several million all in.”

Sliding into the Semi Finals like… pic.twitter.com/RF3XbMT9K4

— Harry Maguire (@HarryMaguire93) July 7, 2018

Croatia now stand between England and a World Cup final after eliminating hosts Russia in a penalty shootout.

Adams added: “We were then sweating on Croatia – if they had won in 90 minutes it would have created the favourites double, but fortunately that didn’t happen so we survive until Wednesday.”

It was a similar story for BetVictor, who took solace from Belgium beating Brazil in the other quarter-final.

BV’s Charlie McCann said: “England was a poor result of course against Sweden on Saturday but who cares!

“Silver lining was the right Harry scoring the first goal for the Three Lions – Kane failing to score was a bonus.

“Belgium beating Brazil was also a plus but the Brazilian goal hurt with both teams to score and over 2.5 goals very popular with punters,” he added.

Kindred did not fare quite as badly as the UK-based bookmakers but suffered as a result of Unibet’s strong sports betting presence in Belgium.

The firm’s Ali Gill told EGR: “It was a big weekend as we get to the real business end of the World Cup.

“The quarter-finals as a round went to Kindred against the punters, with Russia v Croatia and Sweden v England being the standout results.

“The Russia match took top spot, a draw always being a winner for us, even more so when it leads to another 30 minutes of action.

“England’s march to world domination continued with an easy looking 2-0 win over Sweden in another match that left us miles ahead, due in no small part to BTTS not coming in and Kane not finding the back of the net for the first time.

“The blot on the copy book was Belgium’s win against Brazil, a result which many bookmakers may have been happy with, but not one with such a large amount of incredibly patriotic Belgian customers as we have.

What a night !!! World Cup semifinals #redtogether @BelRedDevils @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/lwzJIGhLge

— Marouane Fellaini (@Fellaini) July 6, 2018

“But, short term pain for long term gain as we will benefit from having them in the competition for at least one more round, and potentially a reunion with England on Sunday,” he added.

Betdaq’s Eamon Moran said £6.9m was matched across the four quarter-finals by exchange punters, while £620k was wagered on the horseracing at Sandown.

“The Eclipse at Sandown was robbed of Derby hero Masar at the eleventh hour but was still the most popular race on the exchange this weekend with £620k matched,” said Moran.