After controversy and suggestions of cheating in the past, Ladbrokes have announced that they will not be opening a market on the immensely popular Great British Bake Off television program.Bake Off, which the BBC announced last week gained viewers of over 10 million, is a pre-recorded program and this has caused issues in the past.
2015 controversy
Last year, Ladbrokes took a hit amounting to some £10,000 from people making early bets in the eventual winner of the competition, Nadiya Hussain.After Ladbrokes management launched an investigation into the market, it was discovered that a number of these bets came were made by staff who were associated with Love Productions, which is the television production house behind the Great British Bake Off.Because the show is pre-recorded, production staff working on the program would have been aware of the eventual winner many weeks in advance.In the wake of Ladbrokes £10,000 pay-out as a result of the flurry of bets, Love Productions were quoted as saying they were “surprised” that a bookmakers would open a market on a pre-recorded television program.
Following suit
Thus far, all other bookmakers have taken Ladbrokes lead by refusing to open a market on the hugely popular television show.William Hill published a set of ‘illustrative odds’ in the run up to the launch of the show’s new series, which started on August 24th (2016).Although these odds explained the contestants that William Hill considered most likely to be successful during the course of the show, William Hill is also not opening the TV market to allow customers to wager on the result of The Great British Bake Off.It seems unlikely that closing the market will have any effect on viewing figures, and with the controversy of last year, the general consensus seems to clearly suggest this is the right choice.