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Also last summer, British bookmakers took bets at 5,000-to-1 odds that Leicester City, a historically weak English soccer team, would win the Premier League. The team has won, and it has reportedly cost the bookmakers 25 million pounds, or $36 million, the biggest loss on a single sports event in British gambling history.

Unless the British bookies were really bad bookies I doubt they lost that much... they was a few that bet on those long lines and there are a lot of people that bet everything else and lost money to the bookie.. the more people start betting The Longshot the more the Boogie started adjusting those Longshot odds down

An old Book Maker enlighten me about making book and odds a long time ago

odds have nothing to do with whether you think someone’s going to win or lose..... the odds are adjusted to attract or discourage bets to constantly keep the books in balance and no matter who wins the bookmaker break even ... and the bookie makes it on The Vig

it’s just like Vegas the house doesn’t Gamble... The Bookies not gambling else he be out of business fast

Exactly correct, and compliments to you. The amount of pure horse puckey one encounters when reading an article about bookmaking in the 'press' (or related activities, for that matter) is just astonishing. Mind you, it's all too believable that these clots don't have a clue about the workings of a bookmaker; they don't have a clue about anything that involves probability and probability management, nor indeed about any topic that involves arithmetic beyond 3 + 5.

Speaking as a former (professional, thank you) bookmaker from 1973-1979, I do not want to see these yokels cease their yammering, though. Can't even begin to calculate how much money they put into my pocket over the years.

And, tophat, may I please assure you that British bookies, particularly Ladbroke's and the lads, are absolutely top shelf regarding their skills at their enterprise. You will almost NEVER see a "bad" bookie, m'FRiend: they've gone broke. The Leicester punters very likely cost the books only a pittance; I've no actual idea, but I'll gladly wager you dinner at Four Seasons against lunch at Mickey D's that that vaunted 5000-1 quote lasted about a week, if that, and came in so rapidly thereafter that the punters had to sit down from dizziness.

FReegards,