Exeter Man Won £1.45 Million In 2011

Published on November 28th, 2020 2:14 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


A life changed in an instant. What was the biggest ever parlay or accumulator bet to ever hit in gambling history?

In 2011, a heating engineer from North Devon, United Kingdom named Steve Whiteley put down £2 on a 6-race, rollover jackpot bet.

Whiteley didn't know a thing about horse racing and only went to the track a few times per year.

In classic fashion, Whiteley didn't have any tips or inside knowledge - instead, he wagered mainly based on the horse's names or the names of the jockeys.

The six horses that Whiteley picked were:

Semi Colon (2/1)
Black Phantom (12/1)
Ammunition (16/1)
Mr Bennett (16/1)
Lundy Sky (5/1)
Lupita (12/1)

As you can see, nearly every horse in his selection had very long odds of winning.

Add these horses up in a parlay wager and Whiteley's ticket was roughly 725,000/1 to hit.

By the time that Whiteley had hit his first five selections, the rest of the attendants at the Exeter racecourse had learned of his potentially massive winning ticket.

In the final race, Lupita managed to pull off the win, sending the crowd into hysterics and making Whiteley an instant millionaire.

Why did Whiteley choose Lupita to win the final race? The name of the jockey, Jessica Lodge, "stuck out" in his head.

Whiteley made his way down to a ticket booth and asked the attendant to check his ticket, thinking that he must have missed something.

A manager concluded that he was a big winner, and informed Whiteley that his money would be in his account by the following morning.

Whiteley said that he was "shaking like a leaf" after realizing that his life would never be the same.

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There have been bigger parlays won in terms of total money, though Whiteley's win is the biggest ever parlay win in terms of the odds.

Source: BBC.com - Exeter Racecourse Punter Wins £1.45m on £2 jackpot bet

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