Imagine placing $3 worth of small wagers, quickly checking the results, and determining that your bets lost before moving on. The scenario is commonplace for any gambler. Although, later being informed that one of your wagers has yielded a roughly $760,000 windfall is definitely not part of the script.
As an article by ITV News explains, that exact scenario occurred earlier this month. A retired north London accountant – that has chosen to remain anonymous – received an excited call from a Ladbrokes representative stated that he had nailed a 10-pence each way ‘six-fold accumulator.’
The retiree had been wagering at the fractional level and bet a total of £2 – just over $3 in Canadian funds – on horse races which were contested at Lingfield, Donacaster and Newbury on Friday, March 3. The ex-accountant had basically picked all longshots, as a 6-1 horse was the closest thing he had to chalk on his ticket.
Mcvicar was racing at odds of 12-1 at Doncaster that day, and when the horse got up for the score it triggered a life-changing win.
"I checked a couple of the early results on my tablet, but then after seeing one of them had lost I thought I might have only been on for a couple of places, so didn't bother to see how the rest of the horses had got on," the retiree said.
“The next thing I knew, someone from [the bookmakers] Ladbrokes was phoning me to congratulate me for winning nearly half a million quid and to ask how I'd like the money, and I had no idea what he was talking about."
Ladbrokes had boosted the payout by an additional £228,000 due to the company’s ‘best odds guaranteed’ concession.
In total, the unnamed winner scored a £457,067.52 payday, which works out to $760,060.79 Canadian.
(With files from ITV News)