Category: News

Anyone who bet £20 on Leicester City FC winning the Premier League at the start of the season just won £100,000 ($145,877) on Monday, according to betting company Ladbrokes.

The club claimed the title after Tottenham drew with Chelsea on Monday night.

Ladbrokes told Business Insider that there were 47 bets on Leicester winning the league at the start of the season, each with odds at 5,000/1.

Of those 47 bets, 24 still stood.

The smallest Leicester-backing bet was just 10p, which won £500 in what Ladbrokes calls “surely the best use of 10p ever.”

Other bets still riding included a number of £10 and £5 gambles, which won £50,000 and £25,000 respectively.

Ladbrokes said it will pay out around £3 million as a result of Leicester winning the title.

“We have been taking bets for 130 years and we have never ever seen anything come even close to this,” a Ladbrokes representative told Business Insider.

“It’s rare to see a 5,000/1 shot and even rarer to see one even have a slim chance of winning. This is unprecedented and there are no comparisons whatsoever.

“We salute the fans who backed their side to land the biggest upset in history at the start of the season.”

A Leicester City fan who stood to make £100,000 if they won the Premier League has accepted £29,000 from the bookies – because he couldn’t enjoy watching them play.

John Pryke, 59, from Leicester Forest East, placed the speculative £20 bet on a whim with Ladbrokes last August after “fancying the look” of the 5,000-1 odds.

The Foxes are now sitting three points clear at top of the league with just ten games to play.

But he has decided to cash in the bet and accept £29,000 from the bookies – meaning he will lose a whopping £71,000 if they win the league.

Despite facing a big loss, John, who runs a care agency with his wife Julie, 55, said he will still be celebrating if Leicester clinch the title.

The dad-of-three, who has been supporting Leicester for over 45 years, said: “I put the bet on before the season as a laugh but the nearer it gets to the end of the season the more I’m thinking about the money and less about the team.

“I couldn’t bear it any more so before the West Bromwich Albion game I called Ladbrokes to see how much they would give me if I cashed in the bet early and they offered £16,000.

“I said no but after the last match Ladbrokes upped their offer to £29,000.

“It was like being on Deal or No Deal and I just thought to myself that £29,000 isn’t a bad return on £20 but if I walk away with nothing I’ll be kicking myself.

“I want to enjoy watching the team for the rest of the season and I don’t want the thought of the money niggling away spoiling my enjoyment.

“My wife said the money will be going towards a new kitchen and doing the floors out of our house. My son didn’t want me to cash it in but it’s my decision at the end of the day.

“I won’t be upset at all if Leicester win the title, I want them to do it. If they do I’ve watched my team lift the trophy and made £29,000 which isn’t a bad outcome is it?”

In fact, John also faces picking up an extra £4,000 if Leicester finish in the top three after placing a £10 bet on 400-1 odds.

Leicester’s 2-0 win over Liverpool on Tuesday night was another key night in their improbable attempt to win the Premier League.

The Foxes once again put in a hugely energetic shift and the home crowd at the King Power Stadium really got behind their side to make a cackling atmosphere.

Liverpool had beaten Leicester at Anfield, so Claudio Ranieri’s side got a measure of revenge ahead of two enormous games in their Premier League campaign.

Their form over the past 34 games has been incredible:

Last 34 games in the PL: 10 last season + 24 this season. Leicester 72 points
Man City 68
Arsenal 66@VGTrojo
https://t.co/5erWT2F8HB

— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) 3 fevereiro 2016

Leicester’s two next matches are away at Manchester City and then away at Arsenal.

Saturday’s game at The Etihad looks absolutely pivotal and if Leicester can avoid defeat they will stay three points clear of City.

Meanwhile, the way things are going for Arsenal, it would not be a massive surprise were Leicester to come away with something from The Emirates.

After the Arsenal match, Leicester will have just 12 Premier League matches remaining, no other distractions and will have played the other three sides tipped to finish in the top four – Spurs being the other one.

A couple of punters won big on Leicester being top at Christmas, and there are now suggestions that if The Foxes do go on and win the Premier League, they will cause a huge dent in the bookmakers’ profits this year.

On Tuesday night, a punter who backed Leicester at 5,000/1 with a five pound bet at the start of the season revealed himself on Twitter.

Leigh Herbert, a Leicester fan, explained how he came to even put the money down and discussed on Twitter how he feels now about cashing out.

If Leicester win the Premier League, Leigh Herbert will win a whopping £25,005.00.

Leicester are now 5/1 to win the Premier League title, which still feels like quite long odds the way they are going!

Herbert admits there is no cash out option yet. But, this is likely to come and we suspect, the bookie in question, William Hill, will offer him this, amid a blaze of publicity in the coming weeks.

@brucemillington pic.twitter.com/CYtzr5Basq

— leigh herbert (@herb1977) 2 fevereiro 2016

Whoever this betting coupon belongs to, well done!

William Hill have proudly shown they’ve been taken to the cleaners by one phenomenal bet last weekend.

One punter turned a £1 bet into a life changing £181,570.50.

The winner managed to earn a small fortune by correctly predicting the outcome of a 16-fold acca.

You don't see many of these. A £1 16 fold acca returned £181570.50 for one very lucky punter pic.twitter.com/wyfhWXOP9Q

— William Hill Betting (@WillHillBet) 2 fevereiro 2016

The bet included matches played in five countries: England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Belgium.

On the English based games, the punter correctly picked Tottenham to beat Colchester, Arsenal to beat Burnley and Man City to win at Aston Villa inthe FA Cup.

The punter also correctly picked away wins for Watford, Bournnemouth, Bilbao, Schalke, Porto and Standard Liege.

See the full betting card below.