Wrong bet –after 20 years of experience – delivers the goods

Ihave been betting online since the nineties and, up until this weekend, every error I made always ended up costing me money.

A few years ago I went high on France shirts instead of New Zealand shirts in a year-end international. The quotes for the teams were identical, but on different websites, and I cheered home every All Black try, with the Kiwis running riot. I logged on to my account around midnight and not only had my balance not gone up, it had dropped significantly. It turned out I hadn't realised I'd gone high on French shirts and they failed to cross for a try.

This past weekend began in fairly unlucky fashion when Japan turned possession over to the Maoris deep into the 80th minute. They were leading and I had backed them at 20/1, but they weren’t good enough to hold on.

I began to feel as though it might be “one of those weekends”, and with Ireland v the Springboks minutes away I decided to have a points bet. I opened the Betxchange website and saw 44 points or more quoted at 2.1/1. As my bet was processed I saw the Scotland v Argentina game quoted on the same page.

I felt pretty much doomed, as Scotland and Argentina tend to play out some real arm wrestles. I wasn’t planning to watch the Scotland Test but I found myself channel-hopping due to my unplanned financial interest. With points flowing from the opening minutes, I ended up nailing both bets.

It has taken close to 20 years, but I have finally profited from a careless error.

Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at

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brent@ goodforthegame.co.za

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