£25million payout for punters after bookies get a football bashing
It meant results for 26 of the 29 most popular teams went in favour of punters.
Coral’s Simon Clare said: “The weekend results have dealt British bookmakers their worst-ever losses on football.
“I would estimate that the industry has lost about £25m, the biggest hit we have suffered since Frankie Dettori rode all seven winners at Ascot in 1996.
“Saturday was bad enough. Then we were desperately hoping either Man City or Liverpool would slip up on Sunday, but thousands of accumulators then rolled on to Arsenal at Aston Villa.”
Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “We don’t even want to think about the multiples which went on to the game at Villa Park… we’re talking telephone numbers.”
Ladbrokes also took a bashing, with over 250,000 customers winning a football accumulator bet this weekend. Punters cashed in as the combination of the top seven teams in the Premier League winning paid out 20-1 alone, meaning every £5 staked resulted in a payout of £100.
Ladbrokes spokesman Alex Donohue said: “Football punters have hit the biggest jackpot in history. We’ve never known as many individual customers walking away as winners in a single weekend.
“Our traders reckon Saturday was one of the best days for customers in their memory.”
One Coral punter won £40,600 from just a £2 stake after a successful 18-team accumulator.
