Weekend Review: Six Nations scenes and Super Bowl sees layers lose out

It was a bumper weekend for sports betting as rugby union’s Six Nations tournament kicked off on Friday before the weekend’s sporting action climaxed with NFL’s Super Bowl LIII on Sunday night.

Wales, England and Scotland all got off to winning starts in the Six Nations over France, Ireland and Italy as patriotic punters made the bookies pay.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said it was an excellent start to the Six Nations for bettors as the operator’s tournament promotion was triggered on the opening weekend.

“Our Six Nations early payout promotion was triggered on France as they went 10 points ahead and then we saw a fightback from Wales meaning a payout on both teams,” said Freeth.

“Couple that with punters smashing into England against Ireland and we’ve made a pretty poor start to the 6 Nations it has to be said.”

How about this from @Sladey_10 🙌

[Credit: @SixNationsRugby]#IREvENG #CarryThemHome 🌹 pic.twitter.com/CObZRyF2Wr

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 2, 2019

William Hill did not cope much better in the rugby, according to the operator’s PR man Rupert Adams. He said: “Unfortunately, the Six Nations was a bit of a disaster for us with Wales’ and England’s victories particularly well backed.”

Kindred fared slightly better according to Ali Gill, who said: “The Six Nations opening weekend had something for Kindred and our players alike, as Scotland and Wales’ wins went the punters way but we clawed our losses, and a touch more, back as England beat well fancied Ireland in their own back yard.”

The Super Bowl was more of an even split as another victory for Tom Brady and his New England Patriots side was offset by the fact it was the second lowest scoring Super Bowl in history.

Gill added: “Pre-match winner action in the Super Bowl went very much the punters way as New England and Tom Brady continued their domination to take this one, as the odds suggested they would.

“However, the second lowest scoring Super Bowl in history meant we stayed on the right side of the O/U lines and a host of other markets.”

SIX. pic.twitter.com/Dnex14hJxs

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 4, 2019

The Premier League also returned this weekend after a short break for FA Cup action and the bookies needed results to go their way, which they did, especially in Europe.

Hills’ Adams said: “Football wise we had a fantastic weekend and one of the best we have had in quite a while.

“European results were excellent for us with Barcelona and Juventus not winning and we had enough domestic results go our way with Millwall, Bury and Bournemouth the key ones.

“Sunday was quite surprisingly good considering all three domestic favourites won. Again we had some good European results with Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and PSG all dropping points.”

But Betfred was once again left cursing Manchester City talisman Sergio Aguero after the striker netted a hat-trick in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Arsenal.

Feliz cuando los goles sirven para que el equipo gane. Y más en partidos tan importantes como el de hoy ⚽️⚽️⚽️ 💪🏽💪🏽//I'm happy when goals mean a win for the team. Even more so in major matches as this one ⚽⚽⚽ 💪🏽💪🏽 C'mon, City!! pic.twitter.com/9nYQTPOiRy

— Sergio Kun Aguero (@aguerosergiokun) February 3, 2019

“Fred Done just hates Sergio Aguero,” said Betfred PR man Peter Spencer. “The Betfred boss hides behind the sofa every time the Blues record scorer takes to the pitch knowing his pockets are about to be emptied.

“Because of our double delight, hat-trick heaven promotion, the Argentine ace has been costing Fred over £2m every season.

“And the nightmare continued at the Etihad against Arsenal with Aguero hitting his 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the league campaign for a hat-trick before half time as City ran out 3-1 winners.

“That was the most popular scoreline on the Betfred book at 17/2 so it be couldn’t have been much worse for Fred,” he added.