You know when you hear about someone netting a big acca in the press, there is often a bit of a jealousy, then a bit of admiration, then often a bit of punter to punter support since they beat the bookies.
“Well in mate, good on ya, you beat the buggers” – that sort of thing.
Well what if the person that just won a seven fold acca turned out to be the privately educated son of a multi-millionaire footballer and National treasure, Gary Lineker?
How do you feel now?
Hopefully more or less the same, otherwise you might have a bit of inverted snobbery going on, but either way, it’s quite incredible that this bet came in, and at 170/1 too.
The 170/1 Seven Fold Acca
The bet was actually a very clever one, with some selections that were pretty close to being related markets, but not close enough.
This even led to a number of commenters calling fakery or foul play, with accusations of the bet being photoshopped flying about.
I don’t think that’s the case though, especially since the bet was placed with Bet365 who would be all over any sort of media scandal if it existed.
The selections were as follows:
- Messi to score any time
- Mbappe to score any time
- Argentina to lift the trophy
- Full time score to be 2-2
- Method of victory to be penalties
- Over 1 card in the match
- Over 5 corners in the match
You see, quite clever, because of course if the full time score is 2-2- the chances of it going to penalties is much higher, but not quite related markets.
Anyway, the bet had odds of 170/1 and George staked £20.03 on it, so when it came in he bagged £4,276.40, which included a 25% winning boost.
Pocket money to him no doubt, but in terms of bragging rights it’s a doozy.
What’s more, there are quite a few easy wins on that acca if you ask me. Messi and Mbappe to score aren’t exactly big calls, neither were the card and corner shouts, but that 2-2 draw at full time was bold.
That was the bet on which the acca hinged if you ask me.
Why do Wealthy People Bet?
Of course, there are plenty of people for whom the green eyed monster has reared its ugly head, and who have felt the need to make unkind comments.
George clearly expected this too, judging by his tongue in cheek tweet:
If anyone deserves to win a bet, I think it’s me. Thank you all 👊 pic.twitter.com/7PX4nYoOhk
— George Lineker (@GeorgeLineker) December 18, 2022
The question of why wealthy people bet is an interesting one though, and it’s one that I feel supports the idea of gambling as a bit of fun.
It’s hard to believe that George Lineker was betting on the World Cup so that he could pay for Christmas. He’s from a very wealthy family and has his own tech business.
So why was he doing it?
To enhance his enjoyment of the game I should imagine. Just like most of the rest of us.
To be fair that final didn’t need a bet on it to make it exciting, but we weren’t to know that beforehand!
Nevertheless, it’s fun to watch the legs of your acca being ticked off one by one (or get crossed off after 10 minutes if you are anything like me…), and chatting about your ideas with your mates before you make the bet is great while socialising – and if you win one, the sense of smug satisfaction is annoyingly clear for all to see.
Whoever we are, and however much money we have or don’t have, we all like being proved right, not to mention getting one over on the bookie, and so a bet can be fun regardless of your financial status.
If you are really determined not to be happy for George due to his lucky start though, just remember, his dad once pooed himself during a World Cup game in 1990 then wiped his bottom on the pitch, so he’s probably been teased about that a fair bit along the way.
If you watch closely you can lip read him saying “I’ve sh*t myself”… and it will never not be funny.