Bookmakers are always keen to advertise that fact that one of their punters has won a five-figure or six-figure sum for a relatively small stake, because multiple bets – that is, doubles, trebles and accumulators – are excellent money-spinners. By contrast, singles are the least profitable area of business for bookmakers, so they are much less likely to advertise the fact that a punter has won, say, £10,000 with a single at even money. Similarly, it is not without good reason that bookmakers offer double, treble, four times or even five times the odds for a single winner in multiple bets such as the ‘Lucky 15’, ‘Lucky 31’ and ‘Lucky 63’ and bonuses of 10%, 20% and 25% on all-correct versions of the same bets.
However, while multiple bets, by definition, introduce increased risk, every so often a punter manages to string together a series of winners, at working man’s prices, and collects a decent sum of money. The Cheltenham Festival, for example, is considered one of the most difficult meetings of the year at which to find one winner, never mind four on the same day. Nevertheless, on the second day of the 2019 Festival, when results were more ‘punter friendly’ than is often the case, an anonymous Boylesports punter did just that and collected a total of €10,410.69 for his €120 stake.
The unidentified Meath man combined Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle winner City Island, at 8/1, with RSA Chase winner Topofthegame, at 7/2, Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle winner Band Of Outlaws, at 5/1, and Weatherbys Champion Bumper winner Envoi Allen, at 4/1, in a €4 each-way Lucky 15 at his local betting shop. Boylesports spokesman acknowledged the win, saying that ‘this customer in Meath has brought us right back down to earth with a bang’.