My point wasn’t well made - I’m just surprised the punter didn’t cover more options the second time around. He had cleared £157K on an accumulator in 1999 and during the life of that winning wager it must have occurred to him that one loser in that sequence blows his entire bet out of the water.
The 30p bet netting £500K in 2001 was another accumulator in which, it would appear, 14 winners out of 15 gets nothing. A few more permutations covering any 14 out of 15, plus any 13 out of 15 etc. would have increased his chances of collecting something from ‘practically zero’ to ‘highly improbable’. The stake would increase in accordance with his permutations but he isn’t exactly poverty stricken.
I’m also mystified by the quote in my post #17 which claims Mick Gibbs was 'pacing and praying and ‘shaking like a leaf’ during the penalties in Bayern v. Valencia. He certainly didn’t have to. Consider this:
I’ve had a 30p accumulator on 15 events and 14 of them have gone in. If Bayern beat Valencia I collect £500K. If Valencia beat Bayern I collect nothing. Let’s say that Valencia are available at even money (on the day) to win the competition. If I was holding Mr. Gibbs’ betting slip I would call the layer and place as much cash as he would allow on Valencia, up to £250K. Your existing slip with ‘Bayern’ on it is the layer’s security. If the layer wouldn’t allow the bet I’d borrow as much as I could up to £250K and place it on Valencia with another layer. Instead of £500K or nothing I am guaranteed a £250K profit no matter which team wins. I might even enjoy the game.
If Mick Gibbs didn’t protect at least some of his potential profit in this way I have no hesitation in calling him totally stupid.
In fairness though, I have to say Mr. Gibbs has £657K which I don’t have so what do I know?
Until 1961 it was illegal to bet away from the racetrack. Nonetheless it was extensively practised, and finally the government gave in and legalised it. Betting shops were deliberately made spartan, unwelcoming places to discourage people, that has been relaxed in recent years.
It’s becoming quite a problem here too - we have slot machines in virtually all pubs and clubs, so the ability to gamble away your week’s pay is usually only a matter of walking five minutes down the street. We have casinos in our capital cities too - but you really don’t need to leave your own suburb if you want to play the slots or even if you want to bet on the horses or dogs (the TAB - like British “betting shops” is present on most main streets here, and also in bars now with PubTAB and ClubTAB). Then there’s Keno in the clubs, there’s instant “scratchie” lotteries, Lotto, OzLotto, TattsLotto etc, all available at your local newsagent. There are also betting agencies that you can go to for weirds things like “Who will Prince William marry?” Even the TAB - which was traditionally dogs and horses - has branched out into the major ball sports - including overseas events.
It’s a problem for non-gamblers too - we can no longer enjoy a quiet beer in a traditional suburban pub that has any character left. They’ve pulled the guts out of all the pubs, ripped out the pool tables etc, and filled the places with slot machines - so it’s like trying to have a quiet beer after work in Las Vegas.
A friend of mine tells a story of when he was a lad, and much of the above gambling was still illegal - if you wanted to bet on the horses, you had to go to the track to do it. His suburb had an illegal bookmaker - you’d go to the backyard of a suburban house, and the back wall of the house had little ticket windows built into it (it was quite a professional outfit). One day, he went to the window to place a bet, and the guy there said, “Sorry Bob. Can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Because the cops are coming. Come back in two hours.”
This happened to my friend several times, until one day they told him the cops were coming, and he said, “OK, I"ll go then.”
“No. You have to stay!”
“What?”
“It’s your turn. The cops need to fine somebody, to make it look good. But don’t worry, we’re friends with the cops. It’s just a fine like a traffic ticket, and nothing criminal. We’ll pay your fine for you.”