Sky Bet had a terrible weekend, and this acca win was the cherry on the top.
Not only did the ten most backed teams of the weekend all win on Saturday, costing the bookies a lot of money, but on Sunday, they had to pay out £80,000 to an unnamed punter from Liverpool.
He had bunged £5 on a 14-fold acca, building his odds to a ridiculous 15999/1, and it only went and won.
The acca contained games from the Premier League, the Football League, and even down in the Conference, so it was no mean feat, and it almost fell apart on numerous occasions as we will soon find out.
On behalf of Sky Bet, one of their football traders, Chris Spicer, said:
“Hats off to the punter but they could have picked a better weekend to nail such an audacious accumulator, with his remarkable win adding to an already woeful weekend for bookmakers.”
Still, there were hairy moments when it seemed all was lost.
Wolves were taking on Blackpool and it looked like a goalless draw was on the cards, which would have sunk the acca, but then an 86th minute strike from Dave Edwards rescued it, with another goal from Benik Afobe making it 2-0 and leaving no doubt as to the result of the game.
Things were left even later in Fulham’s meeting with Reading, with the score level at 1-1 until the 3rd minute of injury time, when Bryan Ruiz struck home to take 3 points for Fulham, sending the 14-fold acca sailing through to the next day.
West Ham Made Him Wait
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Although most of the games on the acca took place on the Saturday, there was one that didn’t kick off until Sunday – West Ham vs Hull.
So with 13 of 14 selections ticked off on his bet slip, the punter had to go to bed and try to sleep before the bet would be completed. Needless to say, he was tired the next morning.
The unnamed bettor said:
“I decided not to cash out on Saturday evening as I was confident West Ham would beat Hull, although I couldn’t bring myself to celebrate until the final whistle.”
“It’s fair to say I had a pretty restless night on Saturday and it was even worse during that first half as West Ham were getting battered”
Not cashing out must have taken some pretty big kahunas despite West Ham playing at home, but once Andy Carroll netted for the Hammers in the 49th minute, the scouse punter was able to allow himself to believe.
Another goal 20 minutes later made it 2-0, while a third was scored almost straight away, putting the game to bed and no doubt causing the bookies a few tears after a loss making weekend for them.
Meanwhile, the lucky acca winner has an extra £80k in his bank account, and is now considering whether or not to move house, and also planning a big old holiday for his family.