Serious gamblers prefer sports betting to casino-style gaming because of the belief that outcomes are more easily predictable in this wagering genre. While that is accurate, the practice of betting on sporting events can still bring surprises, as athletic contests can wave a tapestry of chance and skill that can bring out outcomes that only a few may see coming.
In the past, stories of people winning massive bets were not widespread due to the limited legal nature of this pastime. Consequently, most sports wagering happened with illegal and offshore bookmakers that did not publicize winners. However, nowadays, legal betting sites in the UK and around the globe are easy to find, and the British gambling industry alone has a projected value of over £14.3 billion. What follows is a quick rundown of five betting stories that made headlines in Britain and have found their place in the annals of UK gambling history. But, it must get mentioned that these are strokes of incredible luck, not the norm.
Leicester City’s 5,000-1 Triumph (2015-2016)
In the summer of 2015, as the new season of the Premier League was approaching, worldwide bookmakers released their outright odds, with most listing Chelsea as a 7/1 favorite to go all the way again. Nevertheless, the most unlikely of things transpired in the 2015-2016 competition, as Leicester City, a team that barely survived in the league in the previous season, went on a stunning run of form that led them to maintain the top spot in the Premiership throughout the tournament thanks to a largely counterattacking style of play. Leigh Herbert, a loyal fan, believed such a miracle was possible. So, he laid down a 5,000 to one wager on this occurring, which garnered a £20,000 win for the Leicester carpenter.
Fred Craggs’ Accumulator (2008)
Fred Craggs, a Yorkshireman, made the European sports news cycle when he snagged a prize of a million pounds on a fifty-pence stake. The win originated from an eight-fold accumulator. For the uninformed, an accumulator or acca betting, is a bet consisting of multiple sections. Craggs put his split down on his birthday in February 2008 at the William Hill sportsbook on horse races. The odds in play here stood at two million to one, with one of the horses selected appropriately named – A Dream Come True.
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Anonymous $1.2 Million Golf Bet (2019)
Here is another gambler, James Adducci, who also broke William Hills’ bank by placing a $85,000 wager on Tiger Woods making a wonderous comeback of form in the 2019 Masters. A self-employed day trader, Adduci walked into SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and forced the William Hill-operated sportsbook in this establishment to produce the single largest futures payout in US conglomerate sports betting ever.
The “Mystic Meg” Football Predictions (2001)
Going more than two decades back, Mick Gibs, a Staffordshire roofer, stunned the gambling sphere by winning a fifteen-fold accumulator that featured matches happening throughout 2000 and 2001. Gibbs placed a thirty-pence wager, facing odds of 1.6 million to one, and walked away with a £500,000 windfall. Two years prior to this staggering win, Gibbs netted a £157,000 reward from a £2.50 bet via a nine-fold accumulator.
Darren Yates and the “Dettori Dream” (1996)
Horse race betting often gets associated with compulsive wagering, thanks to movies and books regularly linking it with this issue. People who suffer from the noted affliction should avoid betting altogether or practice responsible gambling, staking what they can afford to lose.
That said, Darren Yates is a horse racing success story, a man who wagered his last £62 on Frankie Dettori going on a seven-race streak at Ascot, claiming half a million pounds in winnings, and turning this prize into a twenty million development empire, in a true rags to riches tale.
