Bookmaker Ladbrokes said that "it endured the worst Cheltenham horseracing festival in living memory," adding that pricing during the races "abandoned bookmaking principles," according to Lewin & McClean of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Bookmakers’ collective losses at the race meeting in March topped £60M ($86M) as "heavily backed horses won." William Hill spokesperson Ciaran O’Brien described the week as "a bloodbath" for bookies. Ladbrokes CEO Jim Mullen said, "We competed hard but refused to pursue unsustainable strategies and our stance remains that we will compete where we know we can get the right returns from the right customers." Mullen said that the "dire" Cheltenham results "took some of the shine off" Ladbrokes' first-quarter results, during which group net revenue rose 10.6% compared with the same period last year. Analysts were "bullish on the company." Simon Davies at Canaccord Genuity said, "Ladbrokes’ Q1 trading update was considerably more upbeat than arch-rival William Hill, as expected." The football season has been "one of the most topsy turvy in recent memory, with underdogs Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur topping the Premier League table." Ladbrokes face a liability of £3M ($4.3M) "if Leicester City win the title." Mullen said that the excitement of the Premier League this season "had helped offset the losses at Cheltenham," and added, "It's made a lot more people interested in football and in gambling, which is great news for the betting sector" (FT, 4/21).
