If Leicester City can take care of business this weekend against Manchester United, they will cap their epic season as champions of the Premier League.
A lot of people are rooting for it to happen, even if they’re not fans of the club. One group of people not all that crazy about the seemingly-inevitable outcome? Bookmakers who took bets on Leicester winning the league before the season at 5000-to-1 odds.
Only 128 Sky Bet punters took advantage of the 5,000/1 odds, but bookmakers across the industry are prepared to pay out on an estimated £20m liability in total, which represents a biggest-ever single market cost.
Sky Bet have already paid £1.1m to customers opting to Cash Out their bets and are set to fork out another £3.6m, making them the biggest losers in the industry from Leicester’s triumph.
One fan of the club who put down £5 before the season said that while he’s excited for the payout, it’s made rooting for the team that much more stressful.
Leigh Herbert was one of the few to place a bet on the club.
He put down £5 and has already cashed out some of his earnings. Herbert is in line to win a total of £20,600, roughly $37,700 Cdn, by the end of the season.
“I’m going to put it down on a deposit on a house in about a year’s time,” Herbert said. “I’m going to do the sensible thing, I think.”
He acknowledges his stake in the Foxes’ success has made their matches “really hard to watch.”
In U.S. dollars, bookmakers are looking at around a $29 million payout. Of course if there’s any group that most people aren’t going to cry for, its bookies.
