Every week hundreds of thousands of people across the country love a little flutter.
Whether it’s a couple of quid on a horse whose jockey’s colours catch the eye or a football accumulator which has you on the edge or your seat from kick off to the final whistle, there’s always something to bet on.
The emergence of online betting sites and apps also makes it easier than ever to place your bets on literally anything.
People will often combine seemingly unconnected events into a single bet.
Three of the most surprising outcomes of 2016 were, of course, Leicester City winning the Premier League, the British public voting to leave the EU and Donald Trump becoming President of the United States.
Who’d be daft enough to have that as a bet?
Well, according to Ladbrokes, if someone had made a £1 accumulator bet on all three events to happen when they were at their longest odds, they would be sitting on £4,530,906 today. In other words, you could have turned £1 into £4.5 million.
Ladbrokes says the longest odds it offered on each event were: 5,000/1 on Leicester winning the Premier League; 5/1 on Brexit; and 150/1 on Trump winning the election.
And while Ladbrokes said nobody had an accumulator on all three events happening, around 100 punters had accumulators on both Brexit and a Trump victory.
The average odds on these accumulators were 20/1 and the biggest bet was £100 at that rate — whoever made that bet is sitting on a very tidy £2,000 profit today.
Tempting?
There’s so many different bookies to choose from these days and each tries to entice punters in with a series of offers.
Ladbrokes, mentioned above, for instance always has a host of offers including bet £10, get £30 in free bets – certainly handy for placing on those longshots! – extra bonuses for their online casino and free credits for poker and bingo.
Chelsea look like they’re going to romp to the title but what if they throw away their lead at the top of the table? In football anything could happen.
Antonio Conte’s men are currently 8/11 with Ladbrokes to win the title but what if you fancied one of the other runners to pip them at the post?
Liverpool are 9/2, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are 11/2 and Spurs are the outsiders at 12/1 despite having the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli in fine form.
At the other end of the table, Hull City and Swansea City – who have both appointed new managers in recent days – are odds-on favourites for the drop with the Tigers at 1/9 and the Swans at 4/7 while David Moyes’ Sunderland are at 4/9.
Last season’s champions Leicester City may be deemed too good to go down but at 16/1 for relegation, they do provide a bit of value for someone willing to take a punt.
If you’re a fan of the horse racing, there’s already markets open for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National with Thistlecrack looking like the one to beat in the former at 8/11 and Many Clouds at 16/1 the favourite for the latter.
Whatever you choose to bet on, do it responsibly.
For more information visit Gamble Aware by clicking here.
