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There was huge money to be made gambling on three of 2016's most unexpected victories

Leicester winning the Premier League, the Brexit vote, and Donald Trump’s presidential victory combined into an accumulator worth a staggering €5.3 million – from a €1.20 bet.

trumpetc (L to R) Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, Ukip's Nigel Farage, Donald Trump PA PA

2016 HAS BEEN the year of the upset.

Pollsters, financial markets, and bookies have called almost every major event this year the wrong way.

The three biggest surprises have been Leicester City winning the 2015/16 Premier League season in May, Britain voting to leave the European Union in June, and Donald Trump beating Hilary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States.

British bookmaker Ladbrokes told Business Insider that if someone had made a £1 accumulator bet on all three events to happen when they were at their longest odds, they would be sitting on £4,530,906 (€5,342,924) today. In other words, you could have turned €1.20 into €5.3 million.

Ladbrokes says the longest odds it offered on each event were: 5,000/1 on Leicester winning the Premier League, 5/1 on Brexit, and 150/1 on Trump winning the election.

The bookie says nobody had an accumulator on all three events happening but around 100 people had accumulators on both Brexit and a Trump victory. The average odds on these accumulators were 20/1 and the biggest bet was £100 (€120) at that rate – whoever made that bet is sitting on a £2,000 (€2,400) profit today.

Pascal Lemesre, spokesperson for betting exchange Smarkets, told Business Insider its most successful punter made £165,000 (€195,000) trading the US election result overnight.

- Oscar Williams-Grut

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    Mute Alex Falcone
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:32 PM

    An accumulator involves a minimum of 4 selections.
    3 is a treble.
    2 a double.

    141
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    Mute trebloc01
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:22 PM

    Mahon Point shopping Centre in Cork is a bottleneck

    110
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    Mute Brinster
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    Dec 29th 2016, 2:28 AM

    Had a Brexit/Trump double as an emotional hedge. Only got 13/1. Nice profit but would have preferred if Trump didn’t win.

    10
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    Mute blindside
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    Dec 28th 2016, 11:40 PM

    Bookies cheat the whole time and refuse to pay out if they can get away with it, typical Irish media promoting gambling

    52
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    Mute Eric C. O'Brien
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    Dec 29th 2016, 12:39 AM

    Dead right Blindside . Media continue to be sucked in . Trump sucked media in , bookies have always relied on gullible media to entice the public.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Riain
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:28 PM

    I think mary robinson was about 1000/1 before a certain Lenihan opened his mouth way back when.

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    Mute Ed Byrne
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    Dec 29th 2016, 12:26 AM

    What did he say?

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    Mute Shaun Gallagher
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    Dec 29th 2016, 11:25 AM

    He’s from Fianna Fáil. Probably told the truth

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    Mute Bo Cianuro
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:36 PM

    Do the bookies still have a max payout regardless of amount won?
    If I can remember correctly p/power used to max out at 250k, regardless of winning total.. but that may have been for racing at Irish tracks..
    Imagine you did win that amount and they said, sorry bud, we only pay out 1/20th of that..
    I’d be mad bro’s.. :|

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    Mute Kieran Stafford
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    Dec 29th 2016, 12:10 AM

    Have to write it out on different slips

    7
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    Mute Aidan Mitchell
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    Dec 29th 2016, 9:30 AM

    You can’t do an accum on different slips!

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    Mute Kieran Stafford
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    Dec 29th 2016, 11:30 AM

    Well if you’ going to bet 10euro then bet 5euro each on 2 different slips and so on. It would avoid hitting the max payout on a bet like this

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    Mute Aidan Mitchell
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    Dec 29th 2016, 7:01 PM

    Ah ha… That makes sense. Haha

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    Mute Maurice Bourke
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    Dec 28th 2016, 11:14 PM

    Wonder what it would become if they had Connacht to win the pro 12 on top of it.

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    Mute trebloc01
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    Dec 28th 2016, 11:01 PM

    The Brendan O’Connor show is a big loss to TV

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    Mute Adrian
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    Dec 29th 2016, 7:39 AM

    I was so close! I had Aston villa, Britain in and Clinton.

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    Mute Fintan O'Halloran
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    Dec 29th 2016, 5:14 AM

    paddy power has munster at 7/5 next weekend, if that isnt a good bet against a depleted connacht i don’t know what is

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    Mute Val Martin
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    Dec 29th 2016, 9:34 AM

    I hoped for Brexit so much that I did not bet in case it would affect the vote. Superstition.

    I strongly supported Trump. However I bet a lot on him to win and placed my first bet on 17June 2016. I expected the price to fall to even money, but it never did. I got 4/1 on the 7th November. Most other bets were with Boyle Sports and I collected nearly 2 grand in winnings. The Hillary Deplorables was the turning point. Also the Jay-Z act in Cleavland
    It was not so much that he was guaranteed to win, but that the price was way too high and if he won, great money was to be made.

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    Mute Declan
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    Dec 29th 2016, 10:06 AM

    What would have been the odds of Leicester, Connaught and Portugal!??

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    Mute Science of beer
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    Dec 29th 2016, 10:00 AM

    Disgraceful article

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    Mute ryan o sullivan
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    Dec 29th 2016, 3:58 AM

    Liverpool btts win spurs btts win derby Aberdeen hearts win . 10 get ya a nice 503 , merry Christmas

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Dec 29th 2016, 6:48 PM

    There was huge money to be made gambling on three of every year’s most unexpected victories: that is merely stating the obvious. There will be again next year. But who will bet on them?

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