AGAINST THE ODDS: PUNTING ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE, THE WINNERS & LOSERS
As another season draws to a close, the big story is of course, Leicester’s spectacular triumph in winning the league for the first time in their history. Back in August 2015, bookies decided that it was 10 times more likely that Simon Cowell would be the next UK Prime Minister (500/1) than Leicester winning the Premiership (up to 5000/1).
The problem for football fans is that if you want to take a punt then it’s pretty bad form not to back your own team. Every football fan knows this, so we thought it might be interesting to see which teams in the premiership were most profitable to the loyal fans who fancied a flutter.
Here at NetBet, we looked at how a weekly £10 bet on your favourite Premiership team might have worked out for you across the season. To help us we used the prices our NetBet sportsbook had logged throughout the season.
Obviously every game had its favourites and the profit or loss you might have made depended on whether your team managed to defy the bookies pre-game odds. Aston Villa – as their fans know to their cost comes bottom of our “Profit & Loss League,” their season has meant a cumulative loss of almost £270 for a fan betting £10 for a win on each game.
Leicester as you might expect did well, £10 a game would have resulted in a £246 profit for the season, they are number 2 in our chart, but the surprise winner was West Ham. Their wins against the odds mean a profit across the season of £364 for loyal fans who punted a tenner to win on each of their games. Although their efforts only got them a seventh place in the Premier League itself, their early, odds-defying wins against Arsenal (13/1 and the biggest upset for the bookies all season), Liverpool (9/1) and Man. City(11/1) got them off to a flying start (and a flying finish too with their win against Man. Utd.) which ensured betting fans had something to shout about.
It is this ability to defy the big odds that dictates the position in the P/L League. A few giantkilling results by their favourite team can transform the betting fortunes of a football fan and mean disaster for the bookmaker!