Most bettors have experienced situations where the money in their betting accounts has gone south, and how a punter responds in these kinds of situations often reveals a lot about their betting philosophy. Do you invest all your money at once in a huge accumulator bet or do you put it on “banker” after “banker” in an attempt to increase your investment to a respectable level?
The latter group includes most of us, and it can occasionally be beneficial. Based on the crucial Return On Investment (ROI) metric—which Forbes defines as “a simple ratio that divides the net profit (or loss) from an investment by its cost”—we have compiled a list ranking the 10 biggest ever acca wins in history.
1. £157,000 Accumulator Win from a 60p Bet – Return on Investment = 26,310,831.7%
This is the biggest football accumulator win in the UK. Even a huge bookmaker like Ladbrokes must have been surprised by the magnitude of this win, given that they are one of the biggest betting sites and one of the most recognisable physical betting shops in the UK and Ireland.
On April 30, 2022, all 16 Premier League and Championship outcomes were accurately predicted by the unnamed punter. The return on investment (ROI) for the 60p wager was 26,310,831.7%, as the odds were 263,109/1. A spokesperson for Ladbrokes, Alex Apati, stated: “Our customer managed to correctly predict the acca and win; extraordinary stuff.” There was only one tie among the 16 games.
2. €421,000 from a €5 Stake – Return on Investment = 8,419,900%
When a lucky punter from Ireland placed a 20-fold accumulator at a Paddy Power store just before Christmas in 2014, when the result arrived on Boxing Day, it showed that you should always trust your instincts, as he ended up winning almost half a million in prize money.
Nineteen of the twenty picks were absolute winners of the match outcome; however, one leg of the wager offered the bettor a little more confidence, since Manchester City was favoured to defeat West Brom by a minimum of two goals.
By using this handicap betting strategy, City was able to secure odds of 7/5 for a straightforward victory rather than 1/2 for any kind of victory; they ultimately prevailed 3-1. From a €5 investment, that guaranteed a €421,000 return.
3. Darren Yates – £550,000 from a £67 Stake
The most well-known day in British horse racing history, for many, is September 28, 1996.
It is the day when Frankie Dettori sprang to fame when he rode all seven winners at Royal Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, a performance that left UK bookmakers with enormous holes in their wallets. Due to his admiration for the Italian jockey, Darren Yates chose to place accumulators totalling £67.58 at absurd odds of 25,000/1 on each of Dettori’s seven horses.
After sitting in the bar and watching his wagers come through, Yates, who had earlier told his wife he would no longer support Dettori, figured out that he was going to receive a payout of £550,823 at the end of that incredible day than when he started. Fujiyama Crest had held off all challengers in the finals.
4. £28,000 from a £1 Stake – Return on Investment = 2,799,900%
When creating accumulators on betting apps, choosing to back both sides to score is becoming more and more common. It increases your chances to win big, as well as creating a sense of suspense since you’re always watching the scoreboard to see if both sides have scored in the games you’ve selected.
A bettor placed this winner at his local William Hill betting shop in April 2021 and used his understanding of European football to predict the winners and goals of both sides in seven games played in England, France, Italy, and Sweden. Stakes on matches such as Atalanta vs. Napoli, IFK Goteborg vs. Varnamo, and Metz vs. Monaco were limited to £1 on wins and BTTS.
Considering the amount of information available online, it might be worthwhile to search abroad for betting value. A small amount of preparation can also pay off handsomely. With a £1 wager, this anonymous punter placed the bet and yielded an enormous win of £28,000, or a 2,799,900% return on investment.
5. Lucky Punter Paul Dean – £250,000 from a £5 Bet
Despite losing the final leg of his wager, Paul Dean shot to fame in the world of horse racing in 2021 when he won £250,000 in a five-fold!
After the first four legs of his ante-post £5 horse racing acca with Betfair came in, the 40-year-old from Stockton, Teesside, was really on track for a payment of £511,000. Bob Olinger at 25/1, Golden Horde at 12/1, Hello Youmzain at 10/1, and Shishkin at 4/1 were among the extraordinary foursome of winners. The last leg of Dean’s accumulator was not scheduled to run until the next day, though, so he had some thinking time.
The decision was clear-cut: either he would stand by his principles and carry the wager through to the end, jeopardising everything, or he would take a £250,000 payout. It turned out that by accepting the £250k cash out offer, the Northerner had made one of the smartest choices in the history of Cheltenham Festival betting. Though set out with a slight advantage to land the Marsh Novices’ Chase, Envoi Allen, the fifth and final leg of his wager, went on to disappoint his numerous supporters by collapsing at the fourth fence.
6. £30,000 from a £2 Stake – Return on Investment = 1,491,330.5%
It’s usually not a good idea to back draws in football accas. It’s just not possible to compile a list of eight results that only include draws. Is it, or not? A single Ladbrokes bettor picked eight draws in the lower divisions of English football in September 2022.
It may pay off to be knowledgeable about Football League and Championship betting. On September 17, 2022, Reeco Hackett’s header for Plymouth versus Portsmouth in the 94th minute made sure that this astute bettor had correctly predicted all eight Football League draws. He invested £2 and received exactly £29,828.61, yielding a 1,491,330.5% return on his investment.
7. Anonymous Punter – £986,807
When a clever horse racing acca bettor made an enormous £986,807 from a mere £10 bet in 2013, Paddy Power suffered a significant setback. The races from Naas and Galway, which took place over ninety minutes, accounted for an equal share of the six-fold acca. Ultimately, one of the smartest bets on Irish racing ever led Paddy Power into their largest single payment of the decade in horse racing!
8. £520,000 from a £43 Stake – Return on Investment = 1,210,672.09%
By winning more than half a million from four enormous accumulator bets made at a Ladbrokes location in May 2021, an Irish bettor celebrated the end of the football season in style.
To win a potentially life-changing £520,632, the Galway native placed four different accumulator bets. Each acca required an astounding 22 or 23 outcomes to be accurate for him to win. An optimistic punter’s teams from many European and South American leagues were involved in the four bets, totalling £43. The wagers were for a combination of wins, both sides scoring, and fewer than 3.5 goals.
With the remaining accumulators to ride it out until full-time, one was cashed out for £88k. Well, the client would have won an additional £46k if he had allowed all four bets to run! Despite the cashout blunder, this bettor deserves recognition for his perseverance in needing more than 20 results to align with his strategy.
9. The Bettor Who Won Over Half a Million from a £100 bet on 6,542/1 odds
On those kinds of odds, you’ll probably think you won’t see your £100 bet ever again. But this anonymous punter took low odds and turned them into an eight-fold, pulling off a complete betting phenomenon.
Now assume that once the action started, all eight teams were losing, and those eight matchups were added to your bet slip. However, we’ll include the fact that just 20 minutes were remaining in the game for good measure. It took Coventry an injury time to win the money, which means that in just 20 minutes, the player made an incredible £650,000 payout.
10. A 30p Win on 1.6m/1 Odds Yielded £500,000
On this list, this is by far the best bet, even if it may not be the largest amount. It’s one thing to turn a small 30p into £500k, but picture yourself as the last selection and having to watch football matches, and even more so a terrifyingly suspenseful penalty shootout in the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Valencia.
With almost half a million on the line, it all came down to those spot kicks after he had previously picked the winners of nine football tournaments and the English County Championship. Hats off to you!
