Biggest Sporting Bet Wins Ever

£5k Made In 11 Minutes

During the 2010 African Cup of Nations Mali was facing off against Angola at home. Consensus was that Angola were going to walk it. And with 11 minutes left of the match it certainly appeared that way. Mali was 4 goals down. And Angola was minutes away from clinching the victory everyone expected.

It was at this point that one man watching decided to place an in-play bet on the match ending in a draw. So said punter (who wished to remain anonymous) stuck a fiver on that outcome. Come 90 minutes, the score remained 4-0 for Angola and it looked as though the match was sewn up. The Angolan fans certainly seemed to think so.

But, this is a cautionary tale to all footy fans that it ain't over until the final whistle blows. Miraculously Mali scored 4 goals to level in injury time. And our anonymous gambler ended up with a cool £5,000 return.

Why Everyone Loves An Underdog

In 2016 it's fair to say that British football team Leicester astounded everyone, when they beat the competition to lift the 2015/16 Premier League trophy. It was a win no one could have predicted at the start of the season.

Not only did the win cause upset to second placers Chelsea, it also turned a few bookmakers in Britain green too. At the start of the season the idea of Leicester lifting the trophy was a joke. And bookies had offered odds of 5000-1 on this eventuality, which some gamblers had found impossible to resist.

Turns out it was them that had the last laugh. Bookmakers had to pay out a cumulative £25 million in total. But one Leicester fan was especially jubilant at her team's victory. Not only had they made history and delighted their supporters, but for 20-year-old Karishma Kapoor (who'd stuck just £2 on Leicester winning) she now found herself instantly £10,000 richer.

A Life-Changing Legacy

Some wins can be bittersweet. This would definitely be the case for Nick Newlife who sadly would pass away before he could see his bet come true.

After Roger Federer won Wimbledon in 2013, Newlife took odds of 66 to 1 that Federer would go on to win 6 more titles before 2019. He staked a wager of £1,520.

In 2012 when Federer defeated Andy Murray, Newlife won his bet. Sadly, he'd died3 years before, so never lived to see a penny of the £101,840 payout he accumulated on the win. But he did have the foresight to acknowledge the betting slip in his will, promising that if it paid out, all the proceeds should be given to Oxfam. And so they were.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try, Again

After 20 years of placing accumulators on the horses, in April 2017, one lucky online bettor (who again wished to remain anonymous) finally had his persistence pay off.

Having wagered just £19 on a five-horse selection running at Punchestown, the bettor netted a £823,000 return when his accumulator came out good. But, having neglected to check his betting slip before heading out with friends for the night, he wouldn't learn about his win until the early hours of the following day. Needless to say his discovery quickly sobered him up.

Coral, who had taken the bet, later confirmed the win was the biggest its bookmaker had ever paid out on a horse racing bet in the company's history.

An Eye For Talent

Peterborough based Richard Hopkins saw Lewis Hamilton's potential as a Formula 1 racer way before he ascended to the world stage. In fact, Hamilton was just 13 years old when Hopkins wagered £200 on him winning a Grand Prix by the time he turned 23. A bet that came about when he noticed a then teenage Hamilton racing go carts against his own son.

Hopkins also bet that Hamilton would win the World Championships by age 25, and took further odds on both predictions coming true. When they later did, in 2008, Hopkins took home a total cumulative return of £165,000.