Clicking an accumulator on the second week of the Premier League season is pretty awesome, but the most annoying thing about this Paddy Power punter’s bet is just how blatantly obvious it looks in hindsight.
So completely sensible in fact that despite being a 235/1 six-fold, I’m furious I didn’t throw the contents of my piggy bank on it either. The Swedish based punter had probably given up as Everton led Arsenal 2-0 with seven minutes remaining, but goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud earned a point for the Gunners and £5,619 for this punter. Presumably he celebrated by listening to ABBA, eating meatballs and dancing on a well-constructed table that was originally flat-packed.
The sixfold was as follows:
Aston Villa and Saudi Sportswashing Machine to draw: 23/10
West Ham to beat Crystal Palace: 2/1
Chelsea to beat Leicester: 2/9
Swansea to beat Burnley: 4/6
Southampton and West Brom to draw: 13/5
Everton and Arsenal to draw: 9/4
This punter’s £20 bet returned £4,719.00 but thanks to Paddy Power’s 20 per cent Acca Bonus, we had to chuck another £900 on top of his winnings, taking his total loot to over £5.5k. It is only week two and the bean-counters are scrambling because of the acca bonus.
Although stung with jealousy we do have to give a nod to this punter’s cajones. Paddy Power now offers cash-out on football accas (Woohoo) so while he waited on the Everton v Arsenal draw and saw the Toffees go two goals up, he could have easily cashed out. Even before the game, with five of his six legs up he could have cashed out for a profit and not gone through the agony of the evening game. But he didn’t. He stuck it out and he got his rewards.
There’s a thin line between a gutsy bet and a stupid punt, and this one is very much the former. Bravo sir, bravo