Leicester’s Premier League long shot leaves bookies outfoxed
Becoming Premier League champions was not only a momentous occasion for the club, but it was also a profitable event for a handful of people around the country.
According to Boylesports, one punter scooped a whopping €30,000 on the Foxes win, having placed a €20 online bet at odds of 1,500/1 way back in September.
A Dublin man placed a €10 bet with Boylesports at odds of 1,500/1 in August and took home €15,000 on Monday night after Tottenham Hotspur drew with Chelsea and handed Leicester City the title. In December, another Dublin punter availed of Leicester’s shorter odds of 33/1, placing a €330 bet which resulted in a not-too-shabby €10,890 windfall.
PR executive for BoyleSports, Aoife Heffron, said the Leicester win resulted in the bookies taking a “monstrous” hit.
“Two, in particular, walked away with a combined total of over €45,000 when Leicester were crowned Premier League champions. Punters are no doubt revelling in Leicester’s Premier League win. However, it is a different story for us here at BoyleSports as we are beginning to lick our wounds off the back of a monstrous hit on Leicester’s win,” she said.
In the UK, Paddy Power was coming to terms with its biggest Premier League payout in history, with Leicester backers in the UK and Ireland collecting over €2m in winnings.
The bookie had to pay out £50,000 to a punter who placed just a £20 bet on Leicester at massive odds of 2,500/1 at the start of the season, while the biggest Irish winner was a Donegal punter whose €5 stake at 1,500/1 landed him a €7,505 windfall.
Paddy Power said the seven-figure payout will enter the record books as the biggest Premier League payout ever — and in the top two biggest losses in football outright betting.
“If you’d have told me Leicester would win the Premier League at the start of the campaign I’d have said you were bonkers but dreams do come true and we’ve paid out a whopping €2m.
“In hindsight, we were idiots offering odds of 5,000/1 and while handing over the cash might bring a Claudio Ranieri-sized tear to my eye I’m pretty sure they’re tears of happiness — like the rest of the nation I’ve been roaring for the Foxes for months,” the spokesperson said.
A drunken punt by Leigh Herbert from Enderby in South Leicester has left him £20,000 richer today.
“It has really not sunk in, I know it has happened but I still have this nervous feeling going around in my stomach. I thought they would do well but not in my wildest dreams did I think they would be two games from the end of the season and be Premier League champions,” he told the Daily Record.
The carpenter said he planned to spend some of the money on a party and the rest on a deposit for a house.
