Many people think their knowledge of football team stats will help them beat the bookies and win big money betting on football. However, you probably won't. The bookmakers' odds are set by algorithms more advanced than anyone person could be. Sure, some people design their own system and win big - but the odds are against you. Still, the fact remains, some people just get really, very lucky betting on the beautiful game.
From a punter who put down 30p on a 15-part bet that paid him out half a million a year later, to an international music star who made millions on the World Cup to probably the biggest upset win in footballing history that also made some fans a pretty penny - these are four of the biggest football betting wins ever recorded.
Staffordshire Man Wins £500,000 from 30p Accumulator
Mick Gibbs from Lichfield, Staffordshire, is no stranger to an accumulator. The retired roofer won £150,000 on a £2.50 accumulator in 1999 when his beloved Manchester United won the treble. But his biggest win was two years later in 2001 - when a 30p accumulator bet on a 15 part accumulator came in for £500,000. Mr Gibbs bet on:
- Champions League Winner (Bayern Munich)
- Leicester to win Rugby Union Premiership
- The champions of all top five English football leagues
- Surrey to win the County Cricket Championship
- Arsenal, Hibernian and Falkirk to win three different league games
The 15th game was Bayern Munich vs Valencia, in which Bayern left it late (winning on penalties after going 1-0 down after three minutes) to secure Gibbs' second epic accumulator win.
Big football betting winners like these are one of the many things that keep the gambling business popular with players worldwide. Today, sites like Memo Casino offer UK football fans huge ranges of bets and markets on the beautiful game, as well as casino gaming options.
Maltese Bettor Turned One Euro into 683,000 Euro on a 19-bet Accumulator
In 2011 an unknown bettor from the online gambling hub of Malta put down a €1 bet on 19 match results in that year's Champions League group stage. The odds of his 19 picks to win totalled 683,738/1 at the online arm of British bookmaker William Hill.
Amazingly, the bet came through for a €683,739 pay out - but not without some drama. Liverpool were his underdog to beat Chelsea as the final match, and with 18 other picks in the bag the punter must have a real sweat on. Especially at 85 minutes when the match was tied at 1-1.
Luckily for the bettor, for whom only a win would seal the ridiculous deal, Liverpool's Glen Johnson scored a 90th minute winner for the Reds. And the Maltese bettor walked away with a cool half a million. At the time, that single bet was enough to swing William Hill's sport betting profit for the month down 2%.
Music Superstar Drake Bets Millions on the World Cup
If you do win big, you still probably won't have as much money as superstar Canadian rapper and singer Drake. The controversial hitmaker is also a known big money sports bettor, and a fan of the beautiful game. He has actually lost all four of his known big money bets on football, including betting for and against the Canadian national team - which both lost.
The second time, the Canadian team trolled him for betting against them by playing the Kendrick Lamar diss track against him Not Like Us in the post-game celebrations.
Drake also bet on Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup final. Although he picked the correct winner, he picked them to win in 90 minutes and the final against France actually went to extra time. Drake is supposedly cursed with his sports bets, and he hasn't returned to betting football (at least publicly) since then.
Several Leicester Fans Won Big after 5000/1 Title Victory
Two Leicester fans made several hundred thousand pounds each after speculatively backing their 5000-1 long shot promoted team to win the Premier League with decent size bets. Many more made significant sums of a few thousand from smaller bets, in what was a legendary result for the league but bad result for the UK bookies.
When it became increasingly likely that Leicester might win the 2015/16 Premier League, bookies began to aggressively offer good rates on cashouts to many of the higher bettors. One punter took £72,000 from William Hill after betting £50, a month before Leicester won it all, and another took £108,000 from Sky Bet (settling a £40 bet) around the same time. If either bettor had held on they would have made upwards of £250,000.
Estimates were UK bookmakers paid out some £20 million to bettors when Leicester won the title in May 2016, after Tottenham drew with Chelsea and mathematically sealed the trophy for the Foxes.
