Richard Hopkins – £165,000
After recognising a young and budding race-car driver, Lewis Hamilton’s, talent and skill way back in the late 90s, Richard Hopkins decided to place a wager of £200 that Hamilton would go on to become a F1 Grand Prix winner by the age of 23. Furthermore, he placed another wager of the same amount on Hamilton becoming a F1 world champion. The odds at the time, with Hamilton barely being a teenager, were 300/1 and 500/1 respectively. Remarkably, Hamilton went on to achieve both, becoming one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time, and earning Hopkins a tidy sum of £165,000.
Phil Mickelson – $560,000
Aside from his spectacular sport betting win, Phil Mickelson is probably a lot more famous for being one of the best golfers of all time. Gambling being his next greatest passion though, during the 2000-2001 NFL season in the US, Mickelson placed a $20,000 wager on the Baltimore Ravens to win the Super Bowl. The odds were 22/1, and when the team surprised everyone by beating the New York Giants and taking the title, lucky Mickelson received a hefty $560,000 in winnings!
Charles Barkley – $800,000
Charles Barkley, another world-famous sportsman, this time a basketball player, also managed to cash a spectacular sports betting win. Like Mickelson, his choice of sport was the NFL, and in 2002, Barkley placed a bet of $500,000 on the New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl. Being the underdogs, the stakes were high, and when the team unexpectedly won, not only were the fans ecstatic, so was Barkley, winning a cool $800,000! He went on to lose $100,000 on further bets, but still managed to rake in a substantial profit.
James Adducci – $1.2 million
Though Tiger Woods has largely proven himself to be one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport, like most sportsmen, he has had some rocky moments during his career. In 2019, for instance, the odds against him winning the Masters tournament were particularly high, at 14/1. James Adducci, however, was hearing nothing of it, and placed an $80,000 wager on Woods. And when Woods actually won the tournament, Adducci won big. The payout was $1.2 million, a record breaker in particular for the William Hill sportsbook where the australianbettingsites.org bet was made.
Vegas Dave – $2.5 million
Vegas Dave has become a rather famous individual, both for his less-than-modest persona and attitude, as well as his apparent skill at securing big gambling wins and making lots of money. Though not all his claims can be verified, and some have labelled him as a hustler, one very real and spectacular win in 2015 was enough to give him a certain credibility. Making a futures bet that he spread across fifteen different casino sportsbooks on the Kansas City Royals baseball team to win the World Series, Vegas Dave managed to beat odds of 30/1 and take home an absolutely eye-watering amount of $2,5 million!
