Betting Yarn

A rather large US betting operator, in conjunction with CBS, offered some boosted prices on Birmingham and Wrexham’s antepost offerings.

They had league winners, promotion, top six, top half—all at higher than the rest of the industry.

They had gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle because they had nowhere to lay the action off. They had taken a phenomenal amount of money on these two, the two teams alone made 98% of their antepost book, and they had no fucking clue how to run a proper bookmaker.

So they called us.

I received an email from the bossman outlining the numbers and general terms. It was our first year doing the Championship and I didn’t want any fuck-ups.

But in any other league we’d have said yes in less than five seconds. Very easy dollar to be made.

So we underwrote the bets, hoping for a nice free slice by May.

Bottom line was: one getting promoted by winning the league and another getting up by playoffs or second would fucking kill you.

But the fact they were both 11/1 to win the league was appetising to a fact merchant.

Two high-budget teams going from League One and both getting up would be some turn of events. I didn’t rate either manager, to be honest. I especially thought Parkinson may have found his level.

At the time, the transfer window was still open, so we could be caught out.

My decision was to stand all positions and trade out later. The bossman gave me the old “are you sure?” line—and I was.

I was sure I could trade out, and sure two wouldn’t go up.

With Ipswich, Southampton, Leicester, Coventry and Boro in the mix, I felt I had enough bullets.

Leicester had shit out and we backed them for relegation by October. Southampton were playing great, couldn’t score, changed manager and were bottom three. LOL.

By September I thought Blues had better players but the worse team. Wrexham looked solid—a proper Championship-type side.

Money kept flowing in for both teams despite poor starts.

By December, Birmingham were ninth. I watched a few games and thought their home form would turn. I stood them both.

Pre-Christmas is where everything swings: loads of games and the table moves fast.

I nearly backed Wrexham for promotion to reduce liability… left it. They lost to Swansea—decision justified.

Then Boxing Day chaos: a 3–0 comeback against Sheffield United, then three wins.

We had to act. We laid them at tens. They were twenties before Christmas.

Missed the best price, but that’s the game.

They drifted, shortened, then drifted again. We traded around it and made them a winner for us.

By the end, if customers had just let it run, they’d have cleaned up. Instead, we clipped 30% and used their exposure to trade all season.

Strange industry.