Football accumulator bet results in £500k win

William Hill placed the blame for a fall in betting margins at the feet of a lucky punter who, with a one euro bet, managed to liberate over £500,000 from the UK's biggest bookmaker.

The bet was placed by a 41 year waiter from a small village in Malta, trying his luck on an accumulator bet which relied on all the selections to win to scoop the cash. The odds of it coming off were a staggering 683,783 to 1 – and it was Glen Johnson's late winner for Liverpool away at Chelsea on 20th May that put the final nail in the coffin for William Hill's finances.
It was a fall in win margins, from 19% to 17%, that facilitated the win; although it is unlikely the lucky punter will be too concerned about the dynamics behind such an excellent run of fortune. As favourites including Arsenal, West Ham and Charlton Athletic all won the losses mounted up for William Hill, resulting in the firm recording one of the worst month's results in over a decade.

Ralph Topping, chief executive, said: "May was certainly a very good month for our football clients betting on small-stake, high-return multiple bets."

It's not all doom and gloom for the nation's favourite bookie however, as a run of shock results such as Blackburn's victory over title chasers Manchester United over the Christmas period saw William Hill regain some ground. Overall too, the company is in sound financial health, with operating profits in line with forecast, although it is expected that profits will not reach the dizzying heights of 2025, which saw record levels of betting activity on mega tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup finals.