Brit football punter scores GBP 72,000 on a GBP 50 stake
News on 6 Mar 2016
News on 6 Mar 2016
The remarkable rise of the Leicester City football club in England’s Barclays Premier League – from the threat of relegation in 2015 to potential champions in the top spot with just nine matches to go this year – has resulted in one prescient punter scoring GBP 72,000 off a wager of just GBP50 at Ladbrokes this week.
The unidentified punter placed the bet at 5000 to 1 on Leicester winning the league…before the club started its fairy tale run of victories under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.
However, Ladbrokes reported in a tweet over the weekend that the gambler decided to cash at this point, eschewing a possible GBP 250,000 win in favour of a certain GBP 72,000.
The bookmaker tweeted:
“BREAKING: We’ve just paid out an industry record cash out on a £50 bet on Leicester at 5000/1, a massive £72k #LCFC.”
A spokesman for the company later confirmed that they had actioned the cash out request, and that the return for the punter on the wager was a new industry record.
Leicester continued on its winning way this weekend with a 1 vs. 0 victory over Watford.
Football media reports indicate that there is evidence that a number of equally prescient punters placed wagers on Leicester before the remarkable success of the team this year became apparent…and at correspondingly player-favourable odds.
One report suggests that as a result of these early bets UK bookmakers will be hit hard if Leicester City go on to win the Barclays Premier League title, with some facing pay-outs of more than GBP 5 million.
