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Johannesburg - With a number of big name sports events currently on the go, some of the results have worked in favour of local bookmakers.
The English Premiership, FA Cup and Carling Cup have seen a number of favourites suffering at the hands of lesser rivals. Premier League club Arsenal has been in top form in European contests but lost out to unfancied Birmingham in the League Cup final on Sunday and were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Leighton Orient in the other cup competition.
In both cases punters had a lot of money running on the game.
This followed hot on the heels of an unlikely tie in the Cricket World Cup between India and England and some surprise results in the early weeks of the Super 15 rugby.
According to Daniel Kustelski, head of marketing at Voltbet.com, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Purple Capital [JSE:PPE], business has been booming and South African punters have been reaching into their wallets to back their favourites.
"We had piles of cash coming in for Arsenal on the Birmingham game," said Kustelski in a telephonic interview with Fin24.com.
So did Voltbet and the other bookies coin it on the highly unlikely tie in the Cricket World Cup?
"The chance of a tie in one day international cricket is actually so slim that when you get a result like that you actually give the money back to the punters," he said.
Brent Graham from online sports betting site Good For The Game confirmed that this had been the way that bookmakers had agreed to handle a result of this nature.
"However where it got very contentious for all is in the T20 format of the game where there is a 'bowl off' to decide a winner in the event of a tie. Some bookmakers viewed the result as a tie while others said that the result of the bowl-off decided the final result," said Graham.
He advised punters to make sure they understand the rules by which the bookmaker was making its market in case of outlying results such as a tie.
Sports fans are not just looking to the international sports markets. The local soccer derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend attracted massive support and even a start-up bookmaker like Voltbet is taking up to R100 000 in bets on the big-name fixtures says Kutelski.
"We had a lot of money for Chiefs and a lot of money for Pirates but not too many people went with the draw. I think it was more a case of people betting with their hearts not their heads," said Kutelski.
The game ended 1-1.
- Fin24
Author holds shares in Purple Capital.
The English Premiership, FA Cup and Carling Cup have seen a number of favourites suffering at the hands of lesser rivals. Premier League club Arsenal has been in top form in European contests but lost out to unfancied Birmingham in the League Cup final on Sunday and were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Leighton Orient in the other cup competition.
In both cases punters had a lot of money running on the game.
This followed hot on the heels of an unlikely tie in the Cricket World Cup between India and England and some surprise results in the early weeks of the Super 15 rugby.
According to Daniel Kustelski, head of marketing at Voltbet.com, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Purple Capital [JSE:PPE], business has been booming and South African punters have been reaching into their wallets to back their favourites.
"We had piles of cash coming in for Arsenal on the Birmingham game," said Kustelski in a telephonic interview with Fin24.com.
So did Voltbet and the other bookies coin it on the highly unlikely tie in the Cricket World Cup?
"The chance of a tie in one day international cricket is actually so slim that when you get a result like that you actually give the money back to the punters," he said.
Brent Graham from online sports betting site Good For The Game confirmed that this had been the way that bookmakers had agreed to handle a result of this nature.
"However where it got very contentious for all is in the T20 format of the game where there is a 'bowl off' to decide a winner in the event of a tie. Some bookmakers viewed the result as a tie while others said that the result of the bowl-off decided the final result," said Graham.
He advised punters to make sure they understand the rules by which the bookmaker was making its market in case of outlying results such as a tie.
Sports fans are not just looking to the international sports markets. The local soccer derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend attracted massive support and even a start-up bookmaker like Voltbet is taking up to R100 000 in bets on the big-name fixtures says Kutelski.
"We had a lot of money for Chiefs and a lot of money for Pirates but not too many people went with the draw. I think it was more a case of people betting with their hearts not their heads," said Kutelski.
The game ended 1-1.
- Fin24
Author holds shares in Purple Capital.
