Bets - early payouts

[tali1]

Paddy Power have already paid out 30k on Stoke going down- i'm not into betting - so don't really understand this - what do the bookmakers gain by these early payments? (Man Utd winning title early - payout was another few years back.
What do bookmakers lose by paying out when season is over instead- why can't they wait?

[Panic Button]

Every time Paddy does this he gets loads of mentions on the radio and the press in general - and even on Answerbank.

It is loads of 'free' adverts for little cost to him.

[Hammond Egg]

They gain good publicity at low cost - how much TV/radio airtime do you think you could get for �30k? - and goodwill from their customers, who will be so happy with Paddy Power that many of them will put the money straight into another bet.

[vehelpfulguy]

Funnily enough I was going to ask this when I heard they had paid out last week.

I assumed it was because they guessed most of the money will come right back to them in the form of further bets.

I have to say much of this betting on football (and other sports) is getting rather stupid.

Talksport on the radio often have a section on the odds for certain matches, and when they talk about say Chelsea v Arsenal then say Chelsea are 11/10 and Arsenal are 10/11.

What sort of idiot bets on something where you have to bet �10 just to win �1 back.

Most betting on football matches is crazy and a waste of money.

[beejay1124]

re paddy power paying out early===as answered earlier -free publicity--well pubicity which otherwise would have cost more than 30k

re vhg-the short odds as quoted
big betters still bet on one off matces-others like myself would link this match into other matches in an accumulator -i.e a list of matches-which if they all fall into place gives a better priced return

[Quizmonster]

VHG, the odds you quote mean that, if you stake �10.00 on an 11/10 odds chance, you get �21.00 back...your own stake plus the bookie's eleven, so +�11.00. At 10/11 - let's make it easy - if you stake �11.00, you also get �21.00 back...your own stake plus the bookie's ten. so +�10.00.
You seem to be thinking of odds such as 1/10 rather than 11/10.

[weggiewabbit]

�they are in fact unscrupulous parasites who prey on the masses who think they can win a few bob�

That�s not true. Nobody is forced to bet on anything. Bookmakers provide a service for which they expect to make a profit, and there is an element of risk to them for doing so ... even the biggest firms take a pounding occasionally.

You�ll often see them referred to as �The Enemy� in the racing media. However the real enemy is the other punters and newspaper or TV tipsters, whose actions influence the prices. If you can show better judgement than them you can profit from their mistakes.

The bookies� profit margin (�overround�) on their book varies for different events. For a football match it�s likely to be about 11%. You can work this out by taking each possible outcome and calculating how much you�d need to stake to return 100.

Home team 6/4 ... =40
Away team 6/4 ... =40
Draw 9/4 ... =31
Total 111

You can do the same thing for a horse race. If it�s a handicap race you could be looking at a book which is over 30% overround!

[weggiewabbit]

Another example of a huge overround is the afternoon dog meetings. There are only a few hundred people at the track, and maybe half a dozen bookies chalking up their prices. They don�t take an enormous number of bets. The overround on the starting prices is unlikely to get below the high twenties. The bookies� forecast dividends (where you pick the winner and the second in the correct order) are based on the SP from the track, so they are an absolute rip-off!

You can get better value for smallish bets if you go to the track and back forecasts on the Tote.