The beautiful game, it’s a globally adored sport with a worldwide audience. There are more than a few people who think they can make some money from this curated shortlist of offshore sportsbooks by predicting scores, results, players to get a goal, you name it – there’s someone analyzing data on it. But what are the biggest known soccer betting wins? Let’s review some of the bigger jackpots that stemmed from the field.
5000-1 the Fan Who Backed Leicester
Ahead of the 2015/16 season, Leicester City were in no contention to challenge for silverware. They had narrowly escaped relegation the prior year and the team had appointed Claudio Ranieri, a man who was putting his career into the dirt by being sacked by the Greek FA after a disastrous spell with the national team. That said, at 5000-1 to win the Premier League title, a Leicester fan, Leigh Herbert backed his team with a frivolous bet after having a few drinks.
The Foxes of course went on to complete a fairytale season where they won the league title by 10 points. Herbert ended up bagging over £20,000 and apparently was very sensible with it by using it as a deposit on a new house.
The 30p 15-Fold Accumulator
Way back in 2001, a man called Mick Gibbs enjoyed placing micro-bets with small stakes but very long odds. He had some success with the same strategy in the past, so decided one day he would place 30 pence on predicting the outcomes of 15 sporting fixtures.
This included five top-flight English football fixtures, some from the Scottish leagues and some other events from sports like rugby and cricket. The odds were 1,666,666-1, meaning that if he got everything right, even with a 30p stake, he’d be in for a sweet payday. Well, yep, he did get everything right and he walked away with a crisp £500,000.
Greece is the Word
Staying in a similar era, who remembers Euro 2004? Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, David Beckham…what a team! Oh yeah, England didn’t win. *sigh*. That’s right, Greece won. The team wasn’t blessed with superstars, instead had solid cohesion and remarkable leadership from the head coach Otto Rehhagel.
They were placed at 150-1 outsiders to win the tournament. Either way, a lucky bettor earned around £300,000 from correctly predicting they’d win the tournament. Little is known about the person who placed the bet with some reports saying he or she was based in Burma and some stating they were in Surrey, England.
Argentina to Lose…to Saudi Arabia
The 2022 World Cup was bonkers for multiple reasons. It was held in winter, it was hosted in Qatar and there were some outrageous results along the way. Argentina and Lionel Messi went on to win the World Cup by defeating France in the final.
Yet, they didn’t have it all their way. In the group stage, Argentina played Saudi Arabia…and they lost. Unheard of. This was many months before the Saudi Arabian league started throwing money at world soccer superstars, so the team wasn’t on the footballing map at all. William Hill offered 80-1 odds on a correct score of Argentina 1-2 Saudi Arabia.
The bookmaker reported that one lucky bettor had taken them up on the odds and walked away with £1600 after placing a £20 bet on that specific score and result.
Malta Man Wins on 19-Fold Accumulator
In November 2011, a man from Malta placed an exceptionally large 19-fold bet. The first 18 results came in concurrently but the last selection was a late kick-off between Liverpool and Chelsea in the Premier League.
The punter had backed Liverpool to win – however, the game looked like it would go to a draw. That was until Glen Johnson stepped up to score against his former team, ensuring a late Liverpool win. Little is known about the exact details regarding the wager and odds but it is known that the winner ended up being £585000 better off.
Bored Housewife Wins £500,000+
In 2017, an unnamed housewife accompanied her husband and son into town on the weekend. The male pair wanted to visit the local William Hill branch to bet on the various football games they would watch or follow throughout the weekend ties. Instead of sitting idly by, she decided to stick a £2 bet on the teams ‘that she liked the name of’. Of course, she won on her 12-fold 3 p.m. kick-off accumulator and ended the weekend with £574278.41 in her back pocket.
Teams like Bournemouth defeated Newcastle United, Brighton got a result at Swansea City and Nottingham Forest bettered Queen’s Park Rangers allowing her to get the sizable payout. What happened next is a mystery as the winner has decided to remain anonymous. Maybe she bought a new house for the family or potentially she ran off to a tropical island to get away from her husband and son who bored her with football every weekend.