Why you should compare sportsbook prices

Why you should compare sportbook pricesIf you had bet on the totally unexpected golf double of Danny Willett winning on the European Tour and Charles Howell III on the US PGA Tour this past weekend, for a stake of £20 ($25.7) you could have made as much £66,400 ($88 300) or as little as £37,700 ($48,400) – depending on which bookmaker you chose.

Famed UK-based Oddchecker.com, which daily lists all the odds of all the international sportsbooks for a wide range of sports, tells this story by way of adverting the fact that it gives its viewers a chance of finding the best odds on any given betting market.

Willett finished two shots clear of compatriot Matt Wallace in his unexpected weekend triumph in the important DP World Tour Champion which climaxed the 2017-2018 European Tour in Dubai on Sunday

Before

Prior to this, the 31-year-old Englishman had struggled with injury and had not won since his famous victory in the Masters in 2016 when he came from behind to beat the then-new American whizz-kid, Jordan Spieth who, for most of those   four rounds, had looked like a certain winner

State-side, in the meantime, the 39-year-old American journeyman Howell ended a 4,291-day winless PGA drought by triumphing in the RSM Classic at Sea Island where he won the 2nd-hole play-off against fellow American Patrick Rodgers.

It was Howell’s first victory since the Nissan Open in early 2007

Both golfers prior to tee-off last Thursday ranked down the lists of odds of the bookmakers quoted by OddsChecker.com

Willet was offered at odds that at best were at 80/1 and at worst at 45/1 and Howell at a both a best and a worst of 40/1 and if you had put down £20 on a doubled with the two brackets together, it could have been with bookies whose odds varied so much that the difference in your winnings would have been as much £28,700 ($36,900).

Said Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: “It was another weekend of shocks in the golf, with two players landing un-fancied victories.

“Whilst it’s unlikely that many backed the double, the massive price difference highlights exactly why people should always place their bets through Oddschecker.

“You look for value when booking flights, hotels, and insurance, so why wouldn’t you do it when betting?”

Footnote: A good many of the new sportsbooks that have been launched in New Jersey are sibling offshoots of international off-shore betting giants, among them William Hill, 888sports, Betstars and Skybet and NJ odds this week would most likely have been similar to those quoted by Oddschecker.