Wealth Bulletin – In a wry turn of events, hedge funds have increased their bets against UK bookmakers six-fold, placing more money on falls in shares of companies which themselves profit from speculators punting on the wrong outcome.
William Hill and Ladbrokes are among UK bookmakers in which hedge funds have recently increased their short positions.
Short sellers sell borrowed shares, betting their price will fall so they can buy them back cheaper and return them to the lender. The difference between the sale and repurchase prices, minus the cost of borrowing the shares, is winnings.
Punters have increased their short positions in William Hill by 600% since the start of the year, and in its peer Ladbrokes by about 5%, according to Dataexplorers.com, a short selling data research firm headquartered in New York.
