Punters to take their chances on football

The unlikely Leicester football win and subsequent 1000-1 payout for punters is already encouraging more people to bet on next year’s Premier League competition.

Leicester’s unexpected triumph on Tuesday has paved the way for New Zealand betting agency, TAB, to offer the same high paying odds for nine teams next season.

TAB spokesperson, Mark Stafford, said the company has already seen an increased number of bets since posting the odds.

“We have already opened up the overall winner for next year and there’s nine teams in next year’s premiership paying $1000 [to one], and so we’ve already seen $1, $2 and $5 bets on those teams to win,” said Mr Stafford. “We didn’t see [those kinds of bets] at the start of last season.”

Mr Stafford said it was a risk for the company to put nearly half the 20 teams participating in the English Premier League on such good odds, but punters stood to gain from it.

“Now that we’ve seen a $1000 shot can win a title, why not again? It will give belief to the other teams,” Mr Stafford said. “If you put $5 on all of them, that would cost $45, and if one of them was to win you’d get back $5000.”

The TAB recently paid out 20 New Zealanders for taking their chances on the East Midlands’ team, with one lucky woman taking home $50,000 for her bet.

However, not all football fans will be swayed to put their money on the line.

Manchester City fanatic, Jackson Houlihan, was born and raised in England as a staunch football supporter, and isn’t enticed by the TAB’s latest offer.

“The sport is more important than the betting. I think once people have a team that they support, they can stick to their guns no matter how they finish,” said Mr Houlihan.

“I think it’s more important than betting on teams that they think might win.”

Fellow football fan James Hill, who occasionally bets on games, also doesn’t feel the need to take his chances.

“To me, $45 is a decent punt that I’d rather just go buy a few drinks with.”