The CRAZIEST odds to ever come in

More often than not (usually, a lot more often than not) the football accumulator you spent half an hour pains-takingly putting together on a Saturday morning falls at the first hurdle when an odds-on relegation candidate stuffs one of the Premier League elite in the early kick-off, sending you into a downward spiral.

Leicester were given absolutely no hope of winning the Premier League title in June 2015, listed at odds of 5000-1. To put that into context it was considered more likely for Piers Morgan to become Arsenal manager, the Queen to have the Christmas number 1, Kim Kardashian to become the US president and Dean Gaffney to win an Oscar. DEAN GAFFNEY.

Thankfully the comparisons came nowhere near to coming true, but on 2^nd May 2016, Leicester won the English Premier League title. This meant everyone brave enough to put their money where their mouth was at the start of the season were rolling in it. A £10 bet at odds of 5000-1 would have paid out a staggering £50,000!

See below for a selection of the CRAZIEST ever bets to win, with odds that defy belief:

5.) 1,000-1 – During the 2010 African Cup of Nations Mali were 4-0 down against Angola with 11 minutes left on the clock. One punter saw something that nobody else did and risked £5 on a comeback at 1,000-1. Mali scored two goals by the 90^th minute and squared up the scoring in injury time. The match ended 4-4, gifting the lucky punter £5,000.

4.) 1,250-1 – Lewis Hamilton has been pretty dominant in F1 for a number of years, few were surprised when he won his first F1 World Championship with McLaren in 2008 having been tipped for greatness from an early age. One lucky punter must have seen the potential first, having spotted Lewis when he was karting at 13 years old. He promptly put £100 on Lewis to win the sport’s most prestigious prize. When Lewis delivered the lucky and mysterious chap walked away with £125,000.

3.) 25,0000-1 – The bookies were so confident that Frankie Dettori wouldn’t win all seven races at Ascot in 1996 they gave odds of 25,000-1 of it happening. On the day Frankie created one of the greatest moments in horse racing history by defying those odds and winning all seven. The only person who came close to being as happy as Frankie that day was probably Darren Yeats of Morecambe. Darren put £59 on the outcome at 25,000-1 and walked away with more than £550,000!

2.) 1,666,666-1 - A man from Staffordshire placed a 30p bet and correctly predicted the winner of the top five English leagues, 3 divisions of Scottish football, Leicester to win the rugby union Premiership and Surrey to win the county cricket championship at 1,666,666-1. His thirty pence stake won him an impressive £500,000.

1.) 2,000,000-1 - In 2008, Fred Craggs from Yorkshire decided to put 50p on an eight-horse accumulator for his 60th birthday. This resulted in what is believed to be the world record odds for a winning bet at 2,000,000-1, winning him a staggering £1,000,000.

A Dog Has His Day: Greyhound Betting Explained

Much of the excitement around watching the magnificent specimens featured in greyhound racing compete comes in successfully betting on the outcome of a race, but with the constantly fluctuating conditions of the sport and the dogs that drive it, picking a single winner reliable is a dubious prospect at best. However, intelligent bet structuring can greatly increase your odds of coming away a winner at the track, and devising a consistent strategy for online greyhound betting starts with understanding the various types of bets available.

Win, Place and Show

These greyhound racing terms for first, second and third place finishes also denote the bets associated with them. A winning wager on a dog to win obviously requires a first place finish, but a “place” bet is successful if the dog finishes 1^st or 2^nd and a “show” bet pays out if the dog finishes anywhere in the top three.

Quinela and Perfecta

A quinela bet is a two-dog wager that predicts the competitors will finish first and second, and the dogs can finish in either order so long as they are the first two across the finish line. Similarly, a perfecta also requires the selection of two dogs, but is slightly more difficult as they must finish in a predetermined order or the bet is lost. However, a perfecta bet makes up for the increased risk with a more attractive payout for the same wager.

Trifecta Types

As the name suggests, a trifecta bet is a prediction on the performance of three competing dogs, and they must finish in an exact order for the bet to be successful. A key trifecta centers on the performance of one dog who must win the race, with the other two dogs selected to finish second and third in either order. A trifecta box hedges the bets even more by allowing a wagerer to pick three dogs to finish in any order, but has a higher bet cost because it is effectively a combination of 6 single bets.

Superfectas

A superfecta bet focuses on the fortunes of the top four dogs in a race. There are two types of superfecta bet, a straight bet which requires that the top four finish in a specific order and a more expensive box superfecta bet which allows the chosen competitors to finish in any order as long as they are the top four performers in the race.

Odds

Standard bets such as a straight trifecta have a relatively low success rate, with less than 2 races out of 100 correctly predicted by wagerers. On the other hand, box wagers are much more likely to pay out, with a three dog box correctly predicted in approximately 1 in 14 races and a four-dog superfecta box paying out more than 20 percent of the time. “Wheel” bets, which combine a prediction of a first or second place finish for one dog with any finish from the rest of the field, have an even higher chance of success, with bettors experiencing win frequencies of over 25 percent by leaning on the right choices.

With roots stemming back into the traditions of English noblemen who bred these premium pedigree hounds for sport, greyhound races have long held fascination for spectators and wagerers. While the sport is not nearly as predictable as horse racing, it can be nearly as lucrative with a sound betting strategy.