Sports Betting Wins That Made History| Big Payouts
Betting on sports is big business and is a popular pastime for many. This article will look at a few of the biggest wins in sports.
Bill Walters
Before becoming a professional sports bettor, Billy Walters was a professional poker player and has placed more bets than anyone else over almost 40 years. He had a winning streak where he won millions of dollars over this time. Bill Walters is proof that sports betting requires skill to win. He compares poker to sports betting in that sports bettors have to analyse information and then work out the risk as well as the potential wins. His biggest bet was when the New Orleans Saints played the Indianapolis Colts at the 2010 Super Bowl. In this game the Saints were considered the underdogs. He analysed all the information and looked at the risks as well as the potential win and made the decision to place a huge bet. He bet $3.5 million on New Orleans who then won 31 to 17. The undisclosed amount that Walters won is still unknown, but it is surely a large sum.
Mick Gibbs
Fixing roofs in Staffordshire, England was not Mick Gibb’s only skill. Gibbs had a good eye for knowing which accumulator bets to place, and in 1999 he bet a mere £2.50 and won £157 000 when he predicted the winners of nine football games. His next win in 2001 was bigger and he bet only 30 pence. With this bet he predicted the winner of 15 football games with odds of 1 666 666. He correctly predicted the winners of 14 games, but the 15th game, between Bayern Munich and Valencia ended in a penalty shoot-out. Bayern Munich won the game and Gibbs won £500 000 on this bet.
The Loyal Fan
Fans of certain teams often bet on their team no matter what when wagering at Australian betting sites, just because they are loyal. In this instance though, this fan placed a bet and it paid off. In 2011 a baseball fan place a $250 bet on the St Louis Cardinals and predicted that they would make it to the World Series, the odds were 500. This same person then placed a further bet on the Cardinals that would win the Series with odds of 999. It did not look good for the Cardinals, but they began to win games and won the World Series and the Cardinals fan won $375 000, sometimes loyalty pays off.
In the Family
Sports celebrities cannot bet on themselves, but there is no rule against their parents betting on them. Rory Mcilroy was a 15 year old golfer and was doing well so his father Gerry decided to place a £200 bet on his son to win the British Open 10 years from then. Gerry was given odds of 500:1 and because Gerry was so confident in his son’s golfing abilities his friends also decided to place bets. Rory went on to win the 2014 British Open and his father walked away with £100 000 and his friends with £80 000.
Lucky Guess
During the Africa Cup of Nations it seemed that Angola would win the cup. Mali was 4 to 0 down and it seemed Angola was set to win. A sports bettor placed a bet of £5 on Mali to draw by the end of the game. At the last minute Male scored an incredible 4 goals during injury time and the anonymous bettor won £5 000.
