The start of the English Premier League season has been remarkable for one fact- the collapse in the number of tied games. Typically 25% of EPL games are tied (around 100 games a season), but so far this season only 12% of games have been tied. In fact, before last weekend, when there were four, the number of ties was below 8%. There is no obvious reason this should be so, and everyone is scratching their head trying to think of an explanation. None more so than the bookies, who appear to make their money out of ties. In this article, Chris Bell, the CEO of Ladbrokes explains that the loss of revenue is part of the reason for raising £275 million (about $440 million) to bolster their balance sheet. I must admit I’m surprised that bookies are so exposed to the frequency of ties, even if the current run is an exceptional event.
Bookies all tied up
