Weekend Review: Khan KO hurts patriotic punters
Boxing and non-sports betting boosts turnover alongside favourable football results
Bookmakers were celebrating along with Mexican fight fans in the early hours of Sunday morning, as Canelo Alvarez’s sixth round knockout of Amir Kahn helped the layers to a profitable weekend.
“Boxing punters are the most patriotic lot and once again they came for Khan – we made in the region of ?100,000, said William Hill’s Rupert Adams.
Betfred’s Peter Spencer described the fight as a “knockout for the bookies”.
“It was a great result for us. Everyone was getting behind the local lad but it was clearly a massive ask going up two weight divisions,” added Spencer. “It’s like Bury taking on Manchester United!”
Football results were also kind, with punters’ appetite for a bet not diminished by the end of the title race.
“Spurs’ loss to Southampton was an excellent result as was West Ham and Ajax and there was no drop off in the Premier League turnover whatsoever,” said BetVictor’s Charlie McCann.
Leicester’s home win was perhaps the worst result of the weekend for the bookies, but the draw between Arsenal and Man City helped them claw some money back.
“Saturday was good trading wise, with a fair few upsets,” said Unibet’s head of sportsbook Erik Backlund. “Punters were piling in on Newcastle away against Aston Villa and West Ham at home against Swansea. Neither team managed to win which surprised both punters and bookies.”
Non-traditional markets also proved popular over the weekend, with punters getting stuck into the EU referendum market. Betfred reported taking a flood of money on Britain to stay in the EU after the MI6 chief said Britain would be less safe out of the union.
Cameron also talked up the security concerns of Brexit and punters responded with their cash, forcing Betfred to move the “stay” option into 1/4 from 4/11. The company said it has ?100,000 on “stay” to ?10,000 on “leave”.
At Unibet, Backlund said the firm was gearing up for its the most popular non-sports betting event of the year in the form of the Eurovision song contest with two semi-finals mid-week, and the final this upcoming weekend.
“Unibet always see big numbers on the event and it’s by far the most popular non-sports betting event of the year, and even more so this year when it’s held in one of the Nordic countries (Sweden). Russia are favourite, and the majority of bets so far have been on them to win,” said Backlund.