This world cup isn’t quite working out for everyone
As far as bets go it probably didn’t seem a bad punt.
On one side you had Argentina, two-time World Cup winners and among the favourites to win in Qatar. Captained by one of the best players ever, Lionel Messi, who is desperate to add the trophy to his vast collection of silverware.
On the other, Saudi Arabia, ranked 51st in the world .
But on Tuesday the Green Falcon’s soared and flipped the tournament on its head, beating Argentina 2-1 in the biggest upset in World Cup history.
According to MailOnline, the YAB has confirmed that one football fan dropped $160,000 (£89K) on Messi’s side to get their World Cup campaign off to a strong start in Doha.
At odds of $1.13 (£0.63), the bet would have returned the punter $180,800 (£109k), representing a profit of just $20,000 (£11K), when compared to the huge sum they had to put on in the first place.
While the PSG forward scored within the first two minutes, Saudi Arabia struck back twice and secured the unlikely win during a ten-minute spell in the second half.
After Messi’s goal, Betfair said, the Saudis touched the maximum odds of 1000.0 to win the game. And punters clearly felt Argentina were a good thing, going by the short odds.
£4 traded at 1000 on Saudi Arabia! pic.twitter.com/tD7t3hR9OR
— Betfair Exchange (@BetfairExchange) November 22, 2022
Another gambler, the Mail reported, put $100,000 (£55,800) on Argentina to win by over 2.5 goals against Saudi Arabia, meaning they needed to win by a margin of three or more goals for the punter to take home winnings of$170,000 (£94,800).
He also went home empty handed.
The Mail reported that punters in Australia had also backed the country to beat reigning world champions France on Wednesday morning. With odds of $12, a win would return big for punters willing to seriously roll the dice.
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- ITV’s Roger Pearce dies while covering Qatar World Cup
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