Bookies profit from Europe’s Ryder Cup heroics
William Hill, Ladbrokes and Kindred celebrated Thomas Bjorn’s men although Betway made a loss on the tournament
Europe thrashed the United States 17½-10½ to regain the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in France this weekend, prompting wild celebrations from the players, the fans – and the bookies.
Open champion Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson to get Europe to the 14½-point winning mark, becoming the first European to win five points in one Ryder Cup in the process.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia also secured a title of his own to overtake Sir Nick Faldo as the Ryder Cup’s leading point scorer with 25½. He sobbed when he was called a “legend” by team-mate Justin Rose.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill told EGR Intel: “After losing out in the Premier League, the Ryder Cup was the perfect tonic on Sunday evening with the unfancied Europeans taking the Americans apart.
“After one particular monster bet on a US victory from a punter, Kindred traders were mightily relieved when the hapless Mickelson put his drive in the water and conceded the winning point.”
When you need to go to bed but you don’t want to let go! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/mb98rJmbCS
— Thomas Bjørn (@thomasbjorngolf) October 1, 2018
BetVictor’s Charlie McCann enjoyed every minute of the golf and called it honours even between the layers and the punters this weekend. He said: “The Ryder Cup was a magnificent sporting and betting event.
“There were few ties over the three days in Paris but I would call the battle with the bookies as a tie for punters over the three days.
“Francesco Molinari was well backed for both top European and top combined points scorer, while JT was popular in the top American market.
“We clawed a bit back in running – although Friday was a bad day – but overall I would describe it as a tie,” he added.
William Hill’s Rupert Adams said the operator did very well on the tournament, with just 21 punters predicting the correct score line. He said: “Ryder Cup was pretty good as America were very popular before the start and again for the singles, so allez les bleu!”
As a parent, these moments we get to spend with one another sometimes are few and far between Luke, but when moments like this come around I was not letting you down today… you lived every shot with us this week.. love you buddy.. @RyderCupEurope 👍🏻🏆❤️
Dreams do come true pic.twitter.com/5sv7xSXzv1— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) September 30, 2018
It was a similar story at Ladbrokes according to Alex Apati: “It was a great Ryder Cup for us; we reported early last week that 80% of all outright bets on the Ryder Cup winner favoured USA, and while Europe were backed in over the weekend, we were already onto a winner following the volume of bets we took beforehand!”
Betway though reportedly made a loss on the competition, with one lucky punter scooping £25k after backing a Euro Clean Sweep at odds of 25/1. “We were lucky that Speith’s singles defeat to Oleson wiped out most of Sunday’s accas but we were still left with a small down on the event,” said Betway spokesperson Alan Alger.
Elsewhere, most football acca backers were left cursing their luck by the time the 3pm fixtures kicked off after Manchester United’s terrible 3-1 defeat to West Ham United on Saturday lunchtime.