Paddy’s Hall of Fame: Punter wins £71,244 off £1.60 stake!

With football on hold until who-knows-when, Paddy’s getting all teary-eyed and blubbing over some epic winning bets of the past.

Read More: Paddy’s Guide to Sport That’s Still Actually Happening

The eye-watering figures involved might also have something to do with his reaction, truth be told.

Either way, he’s been counting down the top ten greatest football gambles he can remember – see number six on the countdown here – and it’s time to roll right along to number five, a mammoth bet from late 2019 which stretched over three-weeks and 25 football matches! 

Good things come to those who wait it seems…

We all love a crazy-odds accumulator, don’t we? Seven draws on a Premier League Saturday, that’s an old favourite and you’re guaranteed a four-figure price. Both teams to score fivefold from League One and Two, sure, we’ve all been there – we’ve even had a few come in! Very nice.

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And, when you see the odds you get thinking about what a win could mean – a holiday, a new TV, a night on the tiles and a banging curry to finish.

But who seriously puts on a 25-leg bet at odds of over 40,000/1 and expects to see any of their £1.60 stake back when the results come in?

Well, one very savvy sort pulled off every multiple bettor’s dream in November last years with a string of sensational calls to win the colossal sum of £71,244!

Now, this smartypants had clearly done their research and planned ahead, as their bet started with Gremio beating Botafogo 3-0 on October 27th in the Brazilian top flight, and only concluded on November 17th with a nerve-jangling wait for Germany to win and score or share more than 3.5 goals in their Euro qualifier versus Belarus.

Talk about delayed gratification.

In between these two results, they made a series of shrewd calls, including a Leicester win over Arsenal, Brighton knocking off Norwich, Man United brushing past Partizan in the Europa League and England spanking Montenegro in the Euro 2020 – remember that? – qualifiers.

LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Harry Kane of England celebrates after scoring his sides fifth goal during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier between England and Montenegro at Wembley Stadium on November 14, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

But it wasn’t all just big names. Like any respectable mad-priced football acca, there were quite a few teams who you’d doubt the existence of if you didn’t end up checking their results every few months after a bet – no offence intended Botosani and Famalicao, but we’re not sure even the players’ mums are that bothered with their results unless they’ve had a punt.

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All in all, the 25-bet effort came down to the final two legs unblemished by a single failure – the previous 23 winning legs would’ve returned over £35,000 on their own! But Croatia v Slovakia and Germany v Belarus, taking place on the same evening,  could’ve seen the wild wager return a big, fat zero if the results went against this brave backer.

The Croats kicking into gear early in the second half to win and get over 1.5 goals in a 3-1 comeback victory meant winner 24 dropped into place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x-x5bUaJhU

But those usually-so-efficient Germans looked like they might fail to do what was needed – win a game with four goals or more – when, leading 3-0, they conceded a 75th-minute penalty only for Manuel Neuer to go and save the bleeding thing!

The agony!

Fortunately, all was not lost though, as Toni Kroos stepped up to slam home an 83rd-minute fourth for Joachim Loew’s side and secure a £70k payout for this sharp selector.

That’s nothing to sniff at, eh Jogi?

On second thoughts, don’t answer that, we don’t want to know.