PokerStars sports betting arm, BetStars, made one Sunderland fan happy this season when they granted Ben Scott 5,000-1 odds on his £10 bet that Chelsea would win the Premier League.
As a lifelong Manchester United fan, I never placed any money on them winning the Premier League because their odds were always too short. I am not a sure thing type of guy. I’m more of a long shot specialist.
At the start of the 2013-14 season, I decided to change my mind. Looking at the stats, I realised in the past 22-years my beloved Red Devils had ended the season outside of the top two on three occasions, so I lumped on them to do just that.
They finished seventh.
I lost everything.
I quit gambling.
So I wasn’t in the game when Leicester City won the Premier League title at odds of 5,000-1. Not that I would have spotted that little beauty. But plenty of optimistic Leicester fans did and ended the season with some life changing money.
In the summer, BetStars partnered with the champions to become the sports betting outfit of choice and immediately launched a promotion handing a lucky punter 5,000-1 odds on a £10 bet for any team to win the toughest league in the world.
26-year-old Ben Scott from Sunderland placed a £10 bet on Chelsea at odds of 5-1. The postman was hoping to win £50 but got the shock of his life when BetStars contacted him to say they had boosted his odds to 5,000-1.
On Friday night, Scott was sitting in a casino watching Chelsea win their fifth title at The Hawthorns to land him £50,000, while at the same time making him a BetStars customer for life.
“I can’t really believe I’ve won £50,000 with BetStars,” Ben said. “It hasn’t sunk in at all yet. The first thing I plan to do is take my family for a nice meal. A steakhouse or something like that. Then we plan to buy a house.”
It’s a good job Ben lives in Sunderland and not Chelsea otherwise he wouldn’t have much change from £50,000 after taking his family out to lunch never mind buying a house.
And yes, Scott is a Sunderland fan, making him one of the only members of the Black Cats to end the season on a high after his beloved team crashed into the Championship.
New boys BetStars has had a great start in their first full year in the UK betting scene. Their partnership with Leicester City allowed them to create promotional material with the likes of Christian Fuchs, Riyad Mahrez, and Marc Albrighton.
The PokerStars sports betting arm also had a highly successful social media campaign with Wayne Bridge, Emile Heskey, Sol Campbell, and Stephen Hendry predicting results in both football and snooker as part of their #CallIt campaign. And Leicester legends Steve Walsh and Emile Heskey joined rugby stars Tim Stimpson and Andy Goode in a unique rugby challenge.
