Cashing out an accumulator bet or, in other words, getting money back – albeit less than might otherwise be the case – before the bet has finished, inevitably has its pros and cons. However, one punter for whom cashing out worked just perfectly was the anonymous Betfair customer who, on Boxing Day, 2016, staked just £1 on a speculative, 21-fold accumulator on British football matches.
Two of his chosen matches were evening kick-offs but, when Olivier Giroud scored a header on his first league start of the season for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion after 86 minutes, he was ahead in all 19 matches already underway. At that point, although he stood to collect a potential £1.2 million on his ‘all or nothing’ bet, he decided not to push his luck any further and immediately cashed out for the not insubstantial sum of £223,000.
Lo and behold, just four minutes later, Wycombe Wanderers’ winger Myles Weston scored his first goal for the club against Plymouth Argyle to level the scores at 3-3 after 90 minutes as the away team fought back from 3-1. The scoreline remained 3-3 at full-time, thereby rendering the bet worthless, so our intrepid punter had reason to feel well satisfied with his decision. For the record, of his two remaining selections, Manchester City completed a routine 3-0 away win against Hull City, but Newcastle United were beaten 1-0 at home by Sheffield Wednesday.
Keen to promote the benefits of cashing out to punters – the mechanism can, of course, benefit bookmakers, too – Betfair spokesperson Naomi Totten said, ‘Cash Out gives customers the ultimate control over their bets and this is surely the mother of all Cash Outs from the mother of all accumulators.’
