Misery loves company and this week, US sportsbooks still reeling over the massive losses from the NFL Divisional round playoffs can take comfort knowing that they counterparts over in the UK are feeling the same way.
It was a bad weekend for British books who had to stomach the sight of seeing the top seven teams in the English Premier League win all of their matches over the weekend. It got so bad that, according to Reuters, the total losses piled up to the tune of 30 million pounds, which is about $49 million based on US exchange rates. Smashing a hammer over their heads must’ve felt a little better than stomaching the amount punters took from books over the weekend.
“This is as bad a weekend as there’s ever been,” Ladbrokes spokesman Ciaran O’Brien told the news agency. All of the top seven teams – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham, and Manchester United – in the EPL posted wins over the weekend. It’s a rare occurrence that books’ have affectionally (or not) dubbed a “magnificent seven” result, in large part because these seven teams, despite getting shorter odds, are still heavily bet on by the public.
Usually a loss or draw from at least one of these teams is enough to offset the losses when any of these teams win. But when all of them show end up with three points to their total, it turns into a recipe for disaster that this week translated to losses amounting to close to $50 million for sportsbooks.
Results like this are rare though, so it shouldn’t mean too much for the bottom line of these books. But as they say, once is too many, especially when that particular instance results in lighter pockets.
