UK bookmakers are breathing a huge sigh of relief, after Manchester City crashed out of the FA Cup at League One Wigan Athletic courtesy of Will Grigg, saving up to £25m in the process.
The Northern Irishman struck as the tie approached the final ten minutes, putting to bed any hopes Pep Guardiola’s side had of securing an unprecedented and historic quadruple.
Betway has estimated that factoring in the cost of City losing the game, their chance of winning a sixth FA Cup and all bets placed on City landing the four major trophies, a saving of approximately £1m has been made by themselves alone.
That is despite a handful of lucky punters scooping four and five figure sums, after backing the Latics at 16/1 to defeat the Etihad based side once again.
Betway’s Alan Alger, said: “Man City had been well-backed for the quadruple since October, with some punters on at as big as 700/1 all the way down to 14/1. In late February, with still no sign of the sky blue train stopping, we were staring down the barrel of a heavy six-figure pay-out on the quadruple so last night’s result came as a great relief.
“As you’d expect, we took plenty of lumpy bets on City to overcome Wigan last night, and they were also very well-backed to win the FA Cup itself. Overall, we’ve been saved a loss in the region of £1 million, and many other firms will be feeling the same.
“The magic of the FA Cup has sprinkled a bit of stardust on the bookmaking industry, that’s for sure. I think it’s safe to say that the bookies have saved somewhere between £10m-£25m thanks to Will Grigg and Wigan Athletic.”
Betway now makes City’s rivals Manchester United the 9/4 favourites for the trophy, shortly ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at 11/4 and 4/1 respectively, with Sergio Aguero and co 9/2 to go on and end the season with the treble.
