While Betfred and Paddy Power have now both paid out early on Manchester City winning the Premier League title this season with a whopping 22 games still left to play, other bookmakers are still offering odds on Pep Guardiola’s men getting their hands on the title. City are 1/25 odds at places like Betbright and that converts to them having a 98% chance of winning the league.
After the Citizens had taken a win at Old Trafford against their big rivals Manchester United on the weekend, the odds on City winning the title were trimmed across the board, with BetVictor moving the Citizens from 1/20 out to 1/50. Last week, even before the Manchester derby, Paddy Power became the first bookmaker to pay out on a title for Pep Guardiola’s men this season.
After their 2-1 victory, Betfred joined Paddy Power in paying out on a Premier League title for City and that will have hurt owner Fred Done who is an avid Manchester United fan.
“It’s a sad day but as far as I’m concerned the Blues are champions,” said the Betfred boss after seeing his side go down against the Citizens. At the final whistle, he issued a payout on the title going to the blue side of Manchester.
Done added: “This is painful both for the heart and the wallet but after winning at Old Trafford there is no way no one is closing that 11 point gap. This hurts but the Blues look unstoppable so I’m giving the punters who backed them an early Christmas present.”
Betfred are reportedly going to be shelling out around £800,000 on this early payout and among them, is one punter who had a £40,000 stake on the Citizens at odds of 2/1.
Fred Done has been bitten by double payouts from previous early season pay outs on the Premier League title. In the 1989 campaign, Done paid out early on Manchester United getting the title when they were eleven points clear of Arsenal, but the Gunners came back to sneak the title by a single point in the end. That early payout happened when there were only ten games left in the season. This time, City still have 22 fixtures to navigate.
In the 2011/2012 Premier League season, Done had to suffer another double payout when he had again paid early on Manchester United winning the league, only to see Sergio Aguero net an injury time winner for Manchester City on the final day to give the Citizens the title. They did also pay out early in April 2016 on Leicester getting their first Premier League title success but the Foxes went on in that occasion to finish top.
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