Weekend Review: Draws galore help bookies score

It was an up and down weekend for the bookmakers as Saturday’s football left traders around the UK fearing the worst. However, Sunday was a different proposition. With the football calendar decimated by Covid-19, only four Premier League games survived and despite Manchester City and Arsenal recording comfortable victories, Liverpool’s draw with Spurs and Chelsea’s with Wolves meant that the bookies clawed back some of Saturday’s losses. Kindred spokesperson Alistair Gill reported: “Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Leeds went to the punters, two draws in the Chelsea and Liverpool matches left us well in front. And by way of some hugely prohibitive 1X2 prices sending punters searching for more exotic options, we managed to squeeze some profit out of Man City’s stroll past a poor Newcastle team.” Rupert Adams from William Hill said Saturday’s fixtures were not favourable: “Our top 10 spots on Saturday all landed for punters and our Super Odds selection of Rangers, Blackburn and Forest at enhanced odds copped as well.” On the racing front, all eyes were on Ascot this weekend with the Betfair Exchange trophy taking centre stage. With an 8/1 winner, Tritonic, followed home by 14/1, 9/1 and 33/1 shots, the bookies were celebrating. Gill said: “It was a great result for the book, with well supported favourite No Ordinary Joe ultimately disappointing and pulling up before the last.” Alan King’s four-year-old was winless in his last five outings. Betfred’s Alan Firkins did point out, however, that the Racing Post’s Tom Segal tipped up four winners during Saturday’s card with Up for Parol (5/2, 2:05 Haydock), Enqarde (8/1, 2:40 Haydock), Annsam (7/1, 3:00 Ascot) and Tritonic culminating in a number of punters notching a whopping 2267/1 accumulator just in time for Christmas. He said: “We were stung by a shedload of lumpy multiples, at odds of over 2,000/1. Huge respect to Tom.” Elsewhere, the William Hill World Darts Championship is well and truly in the swing. With second-round matches kicking off over the weekend, there was a collective sigh in trading rooms as Fallon Sherrock was narrowly defeated by Steve Beaton on Sunday evening. Adams said: “She was our worst result in the outright market and was incredibly well backed as 4/5 favourite to beat the Bronze Adonis. This result, however, is a bit like England going out at the group stages of a tournament. She would have been incredibly well backed all the way through the tournament, such is her popularity and we would perhaps have liked to see her in a couple more rounds.”