Last year’s Premier League season sent shock waves around the entire sporting world, as Leicester City came from relative obscurity to win the title in the biggest upset in recent memory.One of the biggest impacts of this win was on bookmakers, as Leicester City had been a 5,000/1 outside shot, which resulted in some costly pay-outs.It may be no surprise to anybody to hear that bookies have decided to do thigs differently going forward, and will be slashing the odds on Premier League outsiders to avoid another situation like the one Ranieri’s boys created in the 2015/16 season.
Big losses
Despite even the Leicester City manager saying that the club will be aiming to avoid relegation next year, and do not have their expectations set on a second straight title, bookmakers are not willing to take the risk, and that is understandable.Ladbrokes suffered a £3 million loss as a result of Leicester’s win, with William Hill claiming they took a hit of between £2 million and £3 million as well.Both of these bookmakers are this year offering smaller odds, with the biggest outsiders, such as Burnley and Middlesbrough, going for 1,000-1. Although some rivals have these odds at 1,500-1, nobody seems to be going near the 5,000-1 odds offered on Leicester last year.
Marketing opportunity
Jim Mullen, Ladbrokes chief executive, thinks Leicester’s win was a positive: 
“Long odds amount to about 10% of betting on the English Premier League, and Leicester’s win has reignited hope for fans that their team can win or be in the top four.“We’re seeing a lot of interest in teams like Middlesbrough and Burnley winning the league, so the hit we took has turned out to be a great marketing opportunity for football betting.”With William Hill chief executive, Phillip Bowcock, adding:“We’ve currently got seven teams with odds of 1,000-1. Clearly these bets aren’t ludicrous because they win.”