A role reversal of betting fortunes thus far in 2009 has resulted in great news for punters, yet the polar opposite for their odds-compiling counterparts, the normally glee-faced, palm-rubbing bookmakers.

A run of of favourites piping longer odds competitors to the post at big name races during the recent Cheltenham Festival meeting and the continued dominance of the so-called BIG FOUR in the Barclay’s Premier League, alongside a glut of predictable betting eventualities elsewhere this summer has harvested the opposite effect on the guardians of the transient investments of the punter, as leading bookmakers including the largest in the UK, William Hill have announced a slump in profits generated from their hitherto successful sports betting divisions.

The rot has set in so much that for the first time in their history, William Hill had ended up out of pocket in terms of football betting income last May, as Manchester United romped home in the Premiership, whilst Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal tucked in behind them. Not to mention Ranger FC turning the screws on rivals Celtic against the pre-season odds.

Still, whichever way you look at it, these new revelations are in stark contrast to the almost arrogant stance of the betting industry earlier this year that suggested they would remain largely unaffected and effectively recession-proof whilst other ventures crumbled around them.

So as to employ stalling tactics with the gathering vultures circling overhead, William Hill remained cautiously upbeat despite their gloomy declaration, adding that they had delivered a (and I quote) solid trading performance in the first half of 2009, in spite of the tough economic environment and a mixed set of sporting results. Their Chief Executive, Ralph Topping, also went as far as to admit that even the 100-1 outsider victory in April with the Grand National did little to halt the accumulative decline witnessed over the past six months business.

Describing how the Grand National’s outcome provided an incredibly short-lasted respite for bookmakers as later that very day Liverpool FC scored a last minute winner to put the icing on the cake of a disastrous day for their footballing prophecies both short and long term that systematically was responsible for some 2 million off profits of William Hill there and then.

Their luck did not change for the better during either June or July either, as the notable absence of a major sporting event – such as a football tournament of the standing of the UEFA European Championships or FIFA World Cup Finals – that historically serve to add millions to bookmaker coffers, did nothing to alter their opinion that 2009 could well be written off before it gets much older.

Continuing the football theme, Topping would be watching increasingly tentatively and to a certain extent banking on cash-rich Manchester City gate-crashing the otherwise immovable object that is the Premier League top four in the forthcoming 2009/10 season, so as to hopefully clamor some of their lost profits back.

Commenting on the industry and the fervent belief that the once mega lucrative world of wagering on horse racing had been losing out to the omnipresent, all-consuming roller-coaster that is the football markets betting, Topping confirmed that the latter has more than made up the ground on its closest betting rival; and in essence has moved the goalposts entirely as investors fall over themselves to buy into a footballing renaissance that shows no signs of letting up, yet concluded by insisting that horse racing betting remains a very popular draw to its customers.

Stella Stevens regularly writes and discusses the betting industry. Go to Free Betting Online for more information

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