Rough Weekend for Bookies

Interesting press release e-mailed to me:

LAST WEEKEND'S FOOTBALL GAMES TAKE TOLL ON SPORTBOOKS; GAMBLERS REJOICE
Bookies Take a Battering on NFL's "Black Sunday"

DECEMBER 7, NEW YORK - An unprecedented run of favorites winning last weekend in the NFL has left the bookmaking industry paying out millions to its football bettors, a leading online sportsbook has revealed.

Sixteen NFL games were played last Sunday and Monday, and twelve favourites won and covered the spread. The culmination was Seattle's demolition of Philadelphia on Monday Night Football. Good news for bettors, but not so good for the bookmakers who have to write the checks.

"We're calling it 'Black Sunday'," revealed Anthony Munnelly, Vice President, Sports and Events, at Sports Interaction, the first online sportsbook licensed and registered in the United States. "In my time in the industry I have never seen a Sunday like it."

"It's very unusual to see that many favourites cover at any one weekend, especially in this era of parity," added Munnelly. "I'm happy for our customers, they won their money fair and square and good luck to them. But when I'm writing my letter to Santa later this week I'm going to ask for some underdogs to starting biting, before I end up on standing on the street wearing a red hat and ringing a bell."

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Founded in 1997 and based in North America, Sportsinteraction.com is one of the oldest sports books on the web. Sportsinteraction.com offers wagers on sports, entertainment and current events as well as casino and poker.


Now we know that it was a great weekend, as people normally lean toward favorites, there were great scores in pools all over the country I'm sure. But I doubt it hurt big bookmaking operations.
Lines are set (and changed) to draw equal action on each side of the game.
It's done to prevent an occassion such as this.