Bookmakers facing million dollar wipe-out if Brisbane Broncos win 2025 NRL premiership

Rugby league bookmakers are bracing for a worst-case scenario just one round into the NRL season after a huge betting plunge on Michael Maguire’s Brisbane Broncos.

Bookmakers face a million dollar wipe-out if the Broncos break their 19-year premiership drought.

The Broncos are a nightmare result for bookies after being backed from $13 into $5.50 to win their seventh premiership.

The money has been flowing in for several months and Brisbane were $7.50 before their opening round 50-14 shellacking of the Roosters.

Further substantial bets were placed on them after that victory with their odds shaved to $6.50 on Saturday then $5.50 after further support rolled in on Sunday.

Only Melbourne ($3.50) and Penrith ($4.50) are shorter in the market with their odds fortified by impressive first up wins.

“The Broncos have been backed off the map,’’ said TAB’s Gerard Daffy. “They are our worst result. And it is only round one. Things could get worse if they keep winning.

“But remember last year they got off to a good start and we were saying the same thing and they fell in a heap. It’s early but they looked good.

“The other thing that stood out was that some teams which were in the market - the Cowboys and the Roosters - looked way off the mark.’’

Most bookmakers have been caught by the stampede to back the Broncos and collectively punters will collect a seven figure payout if the Broncos win their first title since 2006.

“The Broncos firmed in the market when they signed Ben Hunt,’’ Daffy said. “And even when some people were criticising Michael Maguire others were saying that hard work he was putting into them might be what they needed.’’

HEAD ABOVE WATER

Cyclone Alfred continued to play havoc with the NRL’s south-east Queensland teams with the Titans to leave on Tuesday for Sydney to prepare for their Sunday fixture against the Bulldogs after their training base at Parkwood became flooded.

The water level had risen above the main crossbar at the team’s training field. The club’s indoor training facilities had also been damaged by the wild weather.

New Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf has had a brutal first week in the job after three players pulled out of his side for their opening loss to the Rabbitohs after the match was switched to Sydney.

Gold Coast’s training ground is under water.

Those that went then had to endure a 14-hour day of travel, including a cancelled plane flight home on Saturday and the squad faces a narrow turnaround before its next game against the Knights in Newcastle on Thursday.

Woolf now has to decide whether to immediately reinstate the three players who missed the match - Kodi Nikorima, Mark Nicholls and Kenny Bromwich - or reward others who took their places.

The Dolphins were posted favourites to win the wooden spoon by bookmakers before Christmas but that market has been adjusted after round one with Parramatta and the West Tigers the new favourites.

Originally published as Bookmakers facing million dollar wipe-out if Brisbane Broncos win 2025 NRL premiership