5000-1 Leicester City ruin bookies' year

04 May 2016 - 10:10 By ©The Daily Telegraph

Nine months ago the odds being offered on Leicester City winning football's Premier League title were identical to the odds on Elvis Presley being found alive this year: 5000-1.Elvis is yet to turn up, but Leicester, who defined the term "rank outsider", have achieved the impossible after an adverse result for their only remaining rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, drawing 2-2 with Chelsea, handed them the league title with two games to spare.For the few punters bold enough to put cash on the season's "joke bet", the result means winnings of up to £100000 (about R2.1-million) each, though the bookmakers will be less than jubilant: between them they will be paying out £25-million, the biggest loss in British history on a single sporting market.In an era when football fans accept that only the richest clubs stand any chance of success, Leicester's achievement will go down as one of the greatest in any sport, ever.By way of comparison, the odds offered on Leicester winning were twice as long as the 2500-1 odds offered on Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards winning ski-jumping gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics.All across a city not known for lavish expressions of civic pride, Leicester was staging a rhapsody in blue. Buildings including De Montfort Hall and the John Lewis store were bathed in blue light, while butchers at the covered market reported a lively trade in sausages made with a blue-dyed meat.Brü Coffee Shop on Granby Street was also open late on Monday night to promote its "Vardy-cino", a cappuccino featuring a silhouette of star striker Jamie Vardy on the froth.Even Richard III, memorialised in statue outside Leicester cathedral, had a blue club scarf thrown around his neck. At every turn, supporters were celebrating with raucous abandon - not least Karishma Kapoor, 20, a loyal Leicester fan who won £10,000 courtesy of her £2 bet in August on her team to win the title.A handful of Leicester fans will have mixed feelings after being persuaded to cash out their 5000-1 bets several weeks ago.They include an unnamed Warwickshire man who accepted £72,000 for his £50 bet from Ladbrokes in March. He would have been £178,000 better off if he had held his nerve. ..

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