There’s some football betting markets where common sense can be deployed to increase the humble punter’s value.
Options like Draw No Bet and Asian handicaps offer shrewd customers an opportunity to leverage their research and instincts into selections that at least have some logic to them.
But other markets, such as goals, cards and corners, are often determined by variance – football games don’t always pan out as they are expected to.
However, there’s always a chance that you could be on the right side of that variance… which was well and truly the case for one Paddy Power punter in midweek.
They placed an outrageous £10 eighteen-fold on Tuesday’s EFL Cup games, with every single selection on Over 9.5 Corners.
And when your luck is in, your luck is in…
Corner Caper
The punter, who Paddy Power have identified only as coming from Essex, sized up 18 games in which they expected plenty of action in the final third of the pitch.
They were, deep breath, Accrington vs Peterborough, Blackpool vs Port Vale, Bristol Rovers vs Cambridge Utd, Cardiff vs Swindon, Chesterfield vs Mansfield, Coventry vs Luton, Grimsby vs Shrewsbury, Harrogate vs Lincoln, Oxford United vs Colchester, Plymouth vs QPR, Portsmouth vs Reading, Salford City vs Rotherham, Stoke vs Walsall, Watford vs Norwich, West Brom vs Derby, Wigan vs Notts County, Wrexham vs Hull and Bromley vs Ipswich!
It’s mind-boggling to imagine an 18-fold of any description landing, but certainly one as steeped in variance and unpredictability as an Over 9.5 Corners acca.
That was reflected by accumulative odds of nearly 19,800/1, upon which the Paddy Power customer wagered £10.
They were, no doubt, glued to their phone or computer on Tuesday evening, counting off each game in turn. By around 10pm GMT, they would have been dancing in delight as they found themselves £197,945 to the good.
Paddy Power described it as a ‘decent Tuesday evening’s work.’ They’re not kidding…
🚨Bet of the season landed already🚨
Over 9.5 corners in 18 matches. £10 stake returning £197,945.98.
Decent Tuesday evening’s work for one punter in Essex!
18+ GambleAware pic.twitter.com/WwWVE9kk4z
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) August 13, 2025
It has been an expensive week for the Irish firm. Their latest PR campaign is Justice Refunds for all punters who bet on the Premier League outright winner market in the seasons in which Manchester City were crowned champions.
Anyone that bet on the teams that finished second that term, which Paddy Power have stated is more than 100,000, have been paid out as winners.
It’s a response to the ongoing charges faced by Manchester City, with the legal battle still unfolding more than two years after it was opened against the club.
According to Paddy Power, this PR operation will cost them a ‘seven figure’ outlay.
Joy and Despair at Betfair
It’s been a week of ups and downs for Betfair punters, to say the least.
It all started almost a week ago with Wrexham, whose long-awaited return to the second tier of English football saw them pitched against recently relegated Southampton.
Just a few years ago, they were separated by four divisions and dozens of placed in the pyramid. But at St Mary’s, they were competing on an equal footing.
So it was something of a shock when Wrexham took the lead through a Josh Windass penalty, which they held onto deep in the game.
As the minutes ticked by, Betfair Exchange customers sprung into life. Some took a punt on Southampton to win at 100.00, while others backed Wrexham to see out a victory at 1.24.
What followed was six minutes of chaos, as Ryan Manning curled home a sumptuous free kick in the 90th minute to equalise for the Saints, before Jack Stephens was quickest to react from a knockdown to fire Southampton to the unlikeliest of victories in the 96th minute.
There were similar scenes on Wednesday, when Tottenham took on PSG in the UEFA Super Cup.
Spurs found themselves in an unlikely 2-0 lead against the Champions League winners, which they held right up until the 85th minute.
But then PSG hit back, with late goals from Kang-In Lee and Goncalo Ramos sending the tie to penalties… where the French side prevailed in a classically ‘Spursy’ finale.
More than £300,000 had been matched on a Tottenham win at prices ranging from 1.04 to 1.09 in the final minutes of normal time.
Another Betfair sportsbook customer enjoyed the midweek action… turning a £25 into a win of more than £8,000.
They had backed Cheltenham to beat Exeter and Sheffield Wednesday to prevail over Bolton in the EFL Cup, as well as draws in the games between Huddersfield and Leicester and Barnsley and Fleetwood.
Cheltenham were victorious 2-0, while the two draw predictions played out beautifully at 2-2.
Beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday were leading 3-2 in the 90th minute, before Bolton came back to net an injury time equaliser. However, Betfair’s 90 Minute Guarantee ensured the punter trousered more than £8,000 for their nearly perfect predictions.