Coral Pays Out Its Largest Winning Amount Ever on Accumulator Bet Package

Accumulator bets are the worst deal around for punters because they offer the lowest overall payout percentages while dangling the dream of a life-changing payday, which almost never happens.  Except, as this tale illustrates, “almost” isn’t quite absolute, as the folks at Coral were happy to proclaim yesterda, when an unidentified punter collected the largest-ever payout in the company’s history.

The happy bettor, identified only as a “male in his forties” from Leicester, struck gold Friday evening in a series of bets at Punchestown.  The bettor correctly picked the winners in the first, second, third, fifth, and eighth races, and had all those winners included in a series of accumulator bets.  The punter placed five different four-way parlays involving the horses — leaving out a different horse on each of the tickets, in something of a variation of a box parlay, and then had all five horses on a separate five-race accumulator as well.

When everything hit, including a 33:1 longshot in that eighth race, the bettor had himself a £822,972.75, for only £19.  Here were the five winners involved in the accumulator wagers, according to a Coral blog update:

STAKED £19
RETURNS £822,972.75

FIVE WINNING SELECTIONS
10/1 Das Mooser (3.40 Punchestown)
9/2 Woodland Opera (4.20 Punchestown)
7/1 Definite Ruby (4.55 Punchestown)
10/1 Bacardys (6.05 Punchestown)
33/1 Canardier (7.45 Punchestown)

The eighth-race bet on Canardier was the key to the record-setting payday.  The unnamed bettor made his pick early, and the odds on Canardier shrank continually before post time, when the horse went off at only 8:1.

According to Simon Clare, Coral’s PR Director, “Canardier, the horse that completed his incredible big win was a 33/1 outsider when he backed it, though it returned 8/1, and the customer told me that he didn’t think the form of the other horses in the race was that good, and that as Canardier was well-bred and with a good trainer it was worth a punt. Even in the context of landing this amazing bet that one horse was a truly inspirational selection.”

“This is the most incredible big-win story that we have ever encountered and a just-reward for our customer for twenty years of perseverance placing these ‘small-stake big-win’ bets day-in day-out,” Clare also said.  Translation: Yes, this was a record-setting win, so big that it could leave a noticeable little ding in Coral’s spreadsheet bottom line, but the company doesn’t care.  Those accumulator wagers are still great for the company, too.

The unidentified punter, a veteran of two decades of betting on the horses, was happy to share his part of the tale.  Per the Coral update:

“I’ve been placing these accumulator bets pretty much every day for twenty years, and winning this bet is the realisation of a lifetime dream. Over the years I’ve come close landing a big return a couple of times but kept hitting the woodwork, and now I’ve done it I feel remarkably calm. I don’t know if I’ll even carry on betting after this as I feel I’ve achieved my goal.”

“I put a lot of effort into picking my horses. I like to follow stables in form, I’ll study the breeding of the horses, and look at their recent performances. I then check which bookie has the best odds for my bet, and unfortunately for Coral, this time it was you guys.”

One suspects the lucky punter won’t be quitting the game, even if he is wise to cash out the larger chunk of his good fortune.  His tale serves both as inspiration to the long-sht dreamers and to Coral itsel, which has taken the opportunity to make the most out of a hefty cash-line hit.  Sometimes the bettors win.  Once in a great, great while, they even strike it rich.