Ladbrokes: Bookmakers Make Headlines By Paying Out Early

Betting company Ladbrokes has said that it can often make business sense to pay out early on certain markets.

Sports betting firms sometimes pay out on markets early for a number of reasons, according to gambling firm Ladbrokes.

Group spokesman David Williams has said that doing this can create headlines for a company and make business sense at the same time.

Often, there is apparently no point holding on to someone's cash if it is almost certain that an event is going to end in a predictable manner.

Using an example from the last Premier League football season, Mr Williams remarked: "There was absolutely no point waiting until the last minute when [Derby County] were mathematically down, because three or four weeks before the odds were about 200-1 on that they were going to go down."

He added that the market was "dead commercially" and no-one "in their right mind" would have placed £200 on them to go down just to win £1 back.

Ten years ago, Betfred paid out on Manchester United winning the Premier League with ten games still to play. Arsenal caught them and took the title, resulting in a £500,000 loss for the north-west-based betting firm.