Weekend Review: F1 rookie victory catches bookmakers cold

The 18-year-old Dutchman secured his first F1 grand prix victory on Sunday, and bookmakers said a number of eagle-eyed punters had taken advantage of his switch from Toro Rosso to Red Bull earlier in the week.

“You would expect Max Verstappen’s unlikely win to be a great result, but we had our fingers burnt thanks to damage done earlier on in the week when one punter had ?39 at 500/1 on his victory – a price that reflected his then team Toro Rosso,” said Ladbrokes’ Jessica Bridge.

“As soon as he moved to Red Bull he was shortened significantly to 40/1, but by this point the damage had already been done.

“It’s not often we complain about another driver winning a race when Rosberg and Hamilton are out of the frame but we were able to reverse some of the damage in-play which eased the pain,” she added.

Betway also fell victim to the driver’s team switch. “Verstappen had dropped in price considerably after the swap to Red Bull and we actually made a small loss due to some early bets from punters quick to latch onto the switch. Fair play to them,” said Betway’s Alan Alger.

However, Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest result turned out to be more favourable for bookmakers, with Ukraine pipping Australia and Russia for glory in what is now a big betting event.

“Eurovision was an excellent result and one of the highlights of the week,” Alger said. “We had tried to get with Ukraine and it worked in our favour,” he added.

BetVictor also enjoyed a rise in the number of punters betting on the annual sing-a-thon. “Eurovision was popular and the public vote going against Australia to Ukraine was a cracking result and a huge swing in a lively betting heat,” said BetVictor’s Charlie McCann.

William Hill’s Rupert Adams said the firm had also managed to get Ukraine on-side in the weeks leading up to the final.

“Our odds compiler has been banging the drum for the Ukraine for almost a month, so we have continually been a short price. In running Australia hit 1/16, so it was also a cracking result in running – a big six-figure winner for us and a truly fantastic result.”

Meanwhile, results on the final day of the Premier League season also went the way of the books, despite the abandonment of Manchester United’s clash with Bournemouth due to an evacuation of Old Trafford.

“Sunday was an excellent day for us in terms of 90 minutes bets with a huge number of good results, especially in the EPL including Tottenham, Man City, Liverpool and West Brom not winning,” said Adams.

“The negative for us was that there were a lot of goals, though we did anticipate this and managed to position ourselves on the right side of the ‘both teams to score’ and other goals related markets which limited the damage somewhat,” he added.

Ladbrokes described the finale as an “excellent” result for the firm.

“Coupons bust all over the country thanks to the likes of Manchester City, Leicester, Spurs, Liverpool and Aberdeen – and it was another healthy six-figure winning day. This was further helped by the lack of major goalscorers not bothering to turn up for the last day of the season,” Bridge said.

Norwich and Aston Villa failing to score helped save Betway from huge multiple payouts from the growing ‘Both Teams To Score Market’.

“Manchester City and Tottenham failing to win really helped as did a high number of draws – which punters just don’t seem to want to back at any price,” added Alger.