A punter put up an in running lay of something like £24 Million for Voler @27 or so , even though it looked a likely winner most of the race

Obviously everyone watching could see it was incredible value but there was so much money there that only about 1.5M was taken i think . so it was still 27 as it crossed the line

The layer did not have £24 million in his account or even enough to cover the bets that were placed.  Actually don't think he even had a grand in here .

It was some kind of IT screw up .The lay never really existed as it was not backed by real money . Betfair voided and a lot of people were seething  . Personally i can;t see why they really expected to get paid . Though it did raise the issue of how you can be certain that your matched bet is 'real' so was a problem for Betfair PR wise as had a lot of publicity .

this was the in running thread

http://community.betfair.com/horse_racing/go/thread/view/94102/28800603/21m-lay?pg=1

This isn't a hard luck story.

In the 2002 World Cup the USA were beating Portugal 3-1.  At about 70 minutes into the match a USA win was 4/11.
So I took a deep breath, phoned up the bookies, and had the biggest bet of my life, €1,100 to win €400.
When I put the phone down and looked at the screen.  Jeff Agoos of the USA immediately scored a brilliant own goal.  Facing his goal (!) he hit a volley from about 12 yards that Brad Friedel never saw.
I sweated the remaining twenty minutes as Portugal battered the USA looking for an equalizer.  It ended 3-2.
The USA with 4 points eventually went through from Group D to the last 16. Portugal ended the group stages with 3 points.

Check here for one of the best own goals ever (from 13:00).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rX1bbTaJ40

Very enjoyable read this thread. Not for sadistic reasons mind.

Four people today stood the change of winning and sharing the £250,000 from a free bet on Sky sport Super 6 competition, they all had all 6 correct scores up until the 94th when Fulham equalised against Palace, 62.5k down the drain. Now that is gutting.

Horse Racing, 16/05/14 Killarney 20.25pm
Artic Fire the odds on fav was matched in running at 1.01 as it lead by a length well inside the final furlong.
Shu Lewis who was backed in running at 130/1 came with a late run for a photo finish.
Betfair traders on photo finishes seldom get it wrong and Artic Fire was trading at 1.2 but drifted alarmingly to 1.5

Shu Lewis won by a nose.

I backed Artic Fire post race not for a lot but im sure many had their fingurs burnt.

sorry  13th apologies.

Lost 6.5k in less than two weeks - backed o'sullivan, laying correct scores, backed wrong tennis players when it is a 50/50 shout, backed benefica, backed spurs @ west ham, backed south american football staying up until 4am in the process. Totally totally pissed off. I'l never recoup that amount. It's gone and I'm not even going to attempt to claw it back. It's done and I've been taught a lesson in chasing and this day was always going to come. I now need to learn to just watch sport without the thrill of the bet - it may be dull but at least I wont have the stress and anquish when it goes wrong. This is a massive amount of money for anybody and especially me.

I've no idea how to do this.

but you still gamble? My question is how can people watch sport without the thrill of a bet? I can't imagine that - especially if it wasn't my team playing.

But arbing is risk free so what's the point in watching the match as the outcome is not relevant?

ORB,you obviously need a buzz watching sports.
I get a buzz finding arbs,but it will never recover what ive lost.
A tip for you keep your bets small and dont chase losses, otherwise,its the sure fire way to the workhouse.

Sounds like you just need to pack in gambling and use your money for something else.  If you can't enjoy sport without a bet, don't watch it and don't bet on it.  If you're happy throwing your money away, then fine, it's your choice, but you don't sound happy with it so surely there must be other things more deserving of your time and money?

Premier League Darts 22/05/14 P.Taylor v Raymond van Barnevald semi final.
Sixteen time champion of the world, Taylor had never lost to Barnevald in the premier league on twenty one previous matches.
Taylor lead four legs to one, and traded at 1.04 to back,whist Barnevald traded at 20/1.

Result Barnevald 8 Taylor 5

bad day for the backers at 1.04

Seeing these backers getting gubbed at rediculous prices is better than having sex.

very much so...milkenz

older u get harder to get up

I`m an indie, so have innumerable tales of luck, both good and bad. There are, however, two particular examples of bad luck that stand out. Both involved an uncannily similar set of circumstances, without which, they would be in the `good luck` stories folder!

The first, and smaller, of the two involved that infamous rick by the Sporing Index boys, when pricing up the number of `wides in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. I think it was Paul Kealy, writing in the RP, who suggested that the opening quote of (from memory, something like) 270-280 had been calculated using the wrong assumptions. Perhaps that the compiler had based his figures on the 5-day game, which bore no real relevance to the tournament in question.

So convincing was the article, so little apparent downside, that I decided to have a decent crack at it, I rang another local indie with whom I had done loads of business and who was also a good friend, to have a buy at the 280, £100 a point. I asked him if he had seen the article, (don`t forget, these were pre-internet days). He hadn`t, but said he would, and call me back soon. Which he didn`t. Next day, I called him again. He had seen the article and, as I had asked to buy at 280, he felt honour-bound to accept it, even though the quote had now risen to (again from memory, something like) 300-310..As his friend, I appreciated his offer, but couldn`t do it to him. After all, no bet had actually been struck the day before, at the 280. I don`t remember the rest of the conversation, but, for some unknown reason, I ended up having no bet.

Only to see the quote go to, from memory, 1200? Before finally making up at something like 970. 70-odd grand, if only my man had seen the article.








Second story, which really is `the one that got away`.



Many of you will remember that, about 10 years ago, in a big publicity stunt, Fred Done offered an even-money, £1,000,000 bet: which of Man Utd or Chelsea would finish higher in the forthcoming Premiership season. No big deal, you might think, except for the fact that Chelsea were only 4/6 to win the Premiership. ( I`m not entirely sure if it was 4/7 or 4/6, so I will assume it was the less extreme figure.)

So, 4/6 to beat 19 teams INCLUDING Man U, or even money, and only have to beat United? The problem was that Done wanted the bet to be taken by one person, not a syndicate or anonymous company. That wouldn`t provide the publicity in the same way that having a million pound bet with some Joe Soap would. Fred was on tv for three or four days, bemoaning the lack of a challenger, before I had an idea.

For some reason, on that particular day, I didn`t have a million sitting in my back pocket, but I knew a man who would have. He is one of the biggest private bookies in Britain, and many of you will know him. I rang him. but he was out. I asked his son if his father had seen the offer. He suspected not, (again, pre-internet).

Next day, the father rings me, saying he had now seen the challenge, but that he didn`t want to take up the offer, as the last thing he needed was the tax man discovering that he had a million in cash lying around, he had to stay low-key.

I had no such concerns, so offered to do it for him, to be `the face` of the bet. He agreed, and so I, by now very excitedly, rang Fred`s number. I`ve forgotten the name of his right-hand-man who I spoke to, but he told me that after something like five days having passed with no challengers, one had turned up just 30 minutes ago, and Fred was in the process of finalising the bet with him. But that if, for whatever reason, the other challenger didn`t pursue it, Fred would call me straight back.
Three or four hours later, I received a call confirming the offer had been taken. I was 30 minutes, out of FIVE DAYS, late. Turned out that Fred had got fed up waiting five days for a Joe Soap to take the bet, had relaxed his previous conditions, and had made the bet with Victor.
I asked him if Fred would care for a second million pound bet, but the next day I received a call saying `thanks, but one million is enough for Fred`.


Chelsea romped it. If only my man had seen the challenge a few minutes earlier...