What is the biggest bet you have seen with your own eyes placed

Me going to uni

27K free bet

Did it win? Kind of

No cash changed hands, but I was right behind a well-known punter who had £25k on War of Attrition with Freddie Subtitles in the 2005 Arkle.  It lost.

£2

took £10K on Generous to win the Arc, in cash( carrier bag ) when working for an independant many moons ago

The carrier bags of cash guy at York backing Oh So Sharp..Commanche Run hammered it....telly guys reckoned between 100K and 150k
at 2/7 0r 1/3 can't recall.

110,000 @ 4/11 Zero Watt in the QA Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1989

No, it didn't win

stood near barry dennis stand at chelt,as footballer steve Claridge got 8 grand out in new notes in pink plastic bags and had 8 grand on best mate at 13 to 8, to think win his 3rd gold cup,handed it over like it was his last 8 grand in the world

I was present when a £50 million bet was brokered on a 7 runner race at Windsor one night.  Bet lost.

^ Mart ?

eye wonce scene seaside do a $400 on a 4/5 and a $20 s/fc

40k at 1/12 Frankel, but that was with someone elses eyes

When still at work prior to 2007 took £200k at 9/4 from a prominent owner , hacked up at 13/8.

No details you'll just have to take my word for it but turn of the millennium the major call centres took absolute fortunes in the owners clubs.

200k off a famous southern chancer when a trader @ Betbald.

I was watching an Irish race on here once (distance of race was at least 12F) & as soon as they were "off" you could see a £50K offered around 30's (that was about its odds). The 50K stayed there throughout the race and of course it won.

When still at work prior to 2007 took £200k at 9/4 from a prominent owner , hacked up at 13/8.

unsinkable boxer.

23 mil, betfair vlv

2.00 Leopardstown 28.12.2011 Backed Voller La Verdette 28/1 in running Had plenty on it.....kept lumping on Betfair Rapid as it got closer to the winning line.... Never got paid By BetunFair.

Rico

No but in many ways a good shout 

Does anyone rem "poly bag man"?

Think there was a bit of myth but pretty sure he was known/named on here?

Did he like a pipe novice hurdler... They was always 13/8 into 6/4, 25 clear over phurst.

A disgraceful carry on mat

^^ the one I mentioned was definitely not V la V

Unsinkable won at 5/2 I fink

Was one of Barney's I fink that 200k on

Mine was rugby world cup

Mine was a big field h/cap

dont keep bringing it up. between 6 of us we had lumps on the thing at 28-about 25k if i recall correctly. although it might have grown with time. i actually laid it for a place also. lucky to escape that one

i laid someone 1000 in the fabled carrier bag at 100 on something to win the national. it finished 5th. charlie mann horse. name escapes me

I`ve seen a guy stick hundred pound notes into a gaming machine, get up to over 5k in half an hour and then blow the lot within 15 minutes. Can`t do it now as they are limited to £2 a spin or something like that. Don`t know the limits for a spin now as machines and casinos make absolutely no appeal to me.

Yes it was Jimast. If had been the other way round and you by mistakenly lay a 13/8 shot at 28/1 don't expect a refund if your bankroll is cleaned out.

Betfair like to move the Goal Posts

someone tried to put together a class action to sue notfair after vlv but few were willing to sign up, for obvious reasons

it went to ibas who stood with bf, i can't recall how long after, several months but i recd a small payout

Goodwood 1968. Standing in the grandstand immediately behind a very well-known and immediately identifiable racing personality. He was standing alone and immersed himself in a racecard. After several minutes he walked down to a bookmaker, with me right behind trying desperately to remain anonymous, and placed a £500.00 EW bet on Karabas (almost positive that was the horse). Don't forget this was 1968. After he walked away I thought to myself, if he fancies it that much who am I to doubt his judgement and placed, for me, at that time, a monstrous bet of £10.00 EW on the horse which duly won, (if memory serves at 5/1). Happy days!!! Definitely 1968 because Sky Diver won the Stewards Cup for a second time.

er... on what grounds did you receive a small payout?

Greenacres has just opened a giant can of worms   

they paid small compensation , initially they cancelled everything at the time then made a statement out of the blue they would pay something post the ibas thing, i didn't expect any because i'd been taking the 29s but surprisingly i did get some

ive just had a look it's jan 2012

you did well. we didnt get a nana. althought they did cancel my place lay. that would have really dun in me melon had they not

i'll see if i can find their statement

Since the 2.00pm race at Leopardstown on 28 December 2011, we’ve looked in detail at all the circumstances surrounding the technology failure and the anomaly it created. In addition, we provided our Gibraltar regulator, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (GGC), with a detailed technical and operational report on the incident and the GGC made a number of recommendations. We have also consulted with customers and taken their feedback on board.

Accordingly, we have reviewed our decision to void all in-running bets matched on the race and, in the interests of fairness, certain categories of voided bets will be compensated by way of ex gratia payments from Betfair. Relevant accounts will be credited by us today. This compensation complies with, and goes beyond, the GGC’s recommendations.

The categories of bets that will be compensated are:

1.    In-play winning positions in both the ‘win’ and the ‘to be placed’ markets which were achieved before the technology failure;  and

2.    In-play winning positions in the ‘to be placed’ market achieved at any time through to the completion of the race.

Bets matched in the ‘win’ market after the technology failure will remain void.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers and the GGC for their feedback in helping us to achieve what we believe to be a fair conclusion to this unprecedented incident. We remain committed to providing our customers with the best betting proposition possible.


as i said, i didn't expect any as id been taking the 29s, never thought about it until they credited my acc

Saw 30K on Joe Mac-Conor O'Dwyer up in the Bumper @6/4 at Cheltenham 1998,came there swinging in the straight and got out stayed  by Alexander Banquet with R Walsh up.

you must have had a nibble prior to the 'failure'. none of us had. in fact if i hadnt stood up and shouted it out i doubt theyd have noticed

ex gratia in the place, hence me being voided. although that will be peanuts compared to the 23mill at 28

How much did they give you, Elise?

Did hear months later they paid out a to a few punters On Voller La V that took Betfair Sp. or had place before the off......but that was peanuts compared to what some of us had on inrunning
There was still plenty liquidity available as its crossed the winning line which shocked me.....The Hoovers must of been Full already.

they thought it was too good to be true, thats why there were millions still available when it had won. missing weight cloth or something. how else to explain 23 m at 28 about a 13/8 shot?
also why i place laid it

that's the thing that was odd, i didn't bet vlv other than at the anomaly price

Mourad was 4/5 Fav and Voller la V 2nd Fav at 13/8....you see the 2nd jolly at  28/1 and cruising.... if you can not spot the value then you never will, regardless whether it wins or not.
Ironically she bolted up too.

Brighton pro punter and well known owner Ashley Carr had several of his horses with Brian Ellison.
One was named Stakis Casino Boy.

Ashley and some of his mates flew up to Scotland from Gatwick to watch it run at Musselburgh (and I had check full details via R.P website} it was 7 Jan 1998 and it was a hurdle race and the jockey was E.Callaghan.

The plan was to attempt to back the horse for £100k but in the end his mates were not needed to rush round the ring all attempting get money on at the same time as the late (and great) Freddie Williams stood the whole bet himself.

Many in Brighton knew about this and I remember listening to the race an a Ladds shop in Worthing.

the commentary went a bit like this 'there are coming into the straight and 3 have a chance but Stakis Casino Boy seems to be cruising and is going clear' duly winning by 7 l @6/4.

The sun newspaper reported next day as the largest ever cash bet on a Scottish racecourse.

Betting wise it was a guy walking into my local bookies and backing a horse called something like Fergie Forster in ordinary national hunt race in the late 80's I think. He pulled out about 4k in cash and the bookie had to phone it through. A few of us managed to get the name of the horse and followed, I had £20 on it . It won at 9/4 and the guy spent most of time looking at the wall (I think it might still have been Extel commentary). 13k returns was a lot of money in those days.

However the biggest bet I ever saw was when my mate purchased the Fujitsu franchise for air conditioning units in the South East in the early 80's (Fujitsu where the first company to produce the compact individual units). He paid £100k for a 10 year franchise and built up a company and sold within 10 years for over a million. It was a bet because he knew feck all about air conditioning apart from somebody working for one of the corporate giants telling him it was the future of air conditioning down the pub one night.

Good post storm reminding us that a gamble is in many different forms , my missus doesn't even think the lottery is gambling 

private pension the biggest gamble we all/many of us take

i had 5k cash in gus carter shop in howdon 2003 on six perfections in the 1000 guineas @4/5..got trapped in or would have pissed in..removed the safe that night so got my dollar back and a bit more..happy daze.

18 grand win when i worked in ladcrooks dublin during the celtic tiger days, won by a short head came in and collected no tip nada

Scruffy fella came in a York betting shop just before the 2005 Wimbledon Final. He’d written a slip for Federer to beat Roddick, 42k at 1/7.
Thought it was a wind up but showed me the contents of a carrier bag and it was all there. Phoned it through and the bet was accepted.
Fella came back late afternoon and I scrambled the 6k together. Different times, eh.

Travelled with driver to York August 1991 for Gimcrack. Friend had £50k cash in briefcase to place on Dilum...recall 2/5 but shows 4/7 on result.  Also recall ground may have been on slower side but recorded as good.  I asked a Ladbrokes rails guy I knew and he said yes he would take the £50k....friend bottled it completely and could not hand the cash over...Dilum trailed in

Anybody on here working in a call centre will certainly remember the guy who started with a few grand at silly prices and re-invested over a string of long odds on events across every sport and even special events like big brother evictions , on site when he had £470k approx on Federer 1/20 to win overnight in Miami , lost.

Anyone remembering him without mentioning any names the clue is Harley Street.

Dr foster?

You got 50% right

Only other five figure bet I ever took was in the 2002 World Cup, England v Nigeria. Had opened the shop v.early as it was a 7am kick off (from memeory). Ten minutes to K/O, fella came in for an Ev 10k England which HO laid. Finished 0-0

Gordon Brown selling the gold off ,lost!

sell gold at £1000 an ounce
spend the money on booze and birds
sell gold at £500 an ounce
invest it wisely
its not the price you sell something at but what you do with it or what it can for you at the time you sell it

eye wonce scene seaside do a $400 on a 4/5 and a $20 s/fc

Was in the Centaur in Cheltenham about 2 hours before first race Cheltenham 2012 chatting to a mate who was a settler, place was pretty empty given it was so early on.

Mysterious fella sidles up to the counter with briefcase full of readies, wanted 15k e/w Trifolium in Supreme 12/1 and they laid it. SP 15/2 think it just scrambled home for 3rd