Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter record 147 Breaks at World Snooker Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan was celebrating on Monday after netting himself £157,000 for potting a 147 break at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield. The two time former World Champion recorded the maximum break in the final frame of his 13-7 2nd round victory over Mark Williams. The money was put up by Championship sponsors 888.com, £147,000 for any player achieving a maximum break plus £10,000 for the highest break in the tournament.

However, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s winnings were soon depleted on Tuesday when Ali Carter also notched a maximum break during his 13-9 Quarter Final victory over Peter Ebdon. The two players must now share the £157,000 bonus.

The odds of any player recording a maxmimum break in the 2008 World Championship were 7/4 prior to the tournament starting and the odds of two players recording maximum breaks in successive days would have been much bigger, had anybody been clever enough to predict such an occurence.

Paddypower Payout Early on United Winning Title

Irish Bookmaker Paddypower has paid out early on Manchester United winning the 2008 Premier League title. They took the decision to pay out early to all those customers who had back United to win the Premier League throughout the season on Friday morning, depsite Chelsea moving just two points behind them in the league with a 1-0 win over Everton on Thursday night.

A spokesman for the firm said “Let’s be honest, they are home and hosed at this stage and it would take a minor miracle for Chelsea to catch them. Having said that, we did end up paying out on both the betting odds for Arsenal and United to win the title a few years ago, so you never know. Whatever happens, we reckon that the money might as well be in the punter’s pocket at this stage.”

It is a great gesture from the company to reward punters who had backed Fergie’s men at odds of 13/8 at the start of the season and they could face an even bigger payout if the Reds go on to lift the Champions League. However, Paddypower could end up with egg on their faces as bookmaker Fred Done, Chairman of Betfred, found out when paying out early on United to win the titlte in 1998, when eight point clear. That season, Arsenal came pipped them at the post and so anybody who has backed Chelsea shouldn’t throw away that betting slip just yet.

Bookies Take a Beating as Comply or Die wins the National

Bookmakers were left counting the costs after joint favourite, Comply or Die won the 2008 John Smiths Grand National. This year’s Aintree spectacle is estimated to have attracted over £400 million in bets placed in betting shops and on the internet and following the result, bookmakers are reporting big losses on the race for the first time in years as seemingly millions of punters up and down the country had backed the winner.

One website that won’t be facing losses is betting exchange Betfair, whose market on the race traded over £15 million as punters bet agaisnt each other, with Betfair taking a commission on every bet up to 5%. However, for the more traditional ‘high street’ bookies the result saw massive payout but not from the horse they feared the most in the days leading up to the race. It was Cloudy Lane that was expected to start as the favourite; but continued support for Comply or Die throughout Saturday saw the David Pipe trained winner start as the 7/1 joint favourite alongside Cloudy Lane, who could only manage 6th position - much to the delight of millions of punters up and down the country who had backed the winner at odds as big as 10/1.

The BBC reported that an impressives 10.1 million people watched the race live on Saturday afternoon.