Outgoing Liberty Life CE Myles Ruck landed a cool R10 000 by placing a lunchtime bet on a South African victory at the Wanderers on Sunday — and then donated his windfall to a poor school in Richard’s Bay.
The bookies must be in mourning this week. After Australia’s record-breaking first-innings 434, odds on a South African win were running at as high as 80/1.
But the company-sponsored boxes, reserved for corporate head honchos and their clients (and the odd hack), were buzzing with bets on South Africa. Bets of about R400 to R600 were placed, with bookies willing to give the suckers odds beginning at 30/1.
Savvy executives, who would throttle their stockbrokers for taking such risks, decided to throw caution to the winds in a show of patriotic fervour.
Said Laurie Dippenaar, former FirstRand CE: ”We needed to make sure they had everything going for them.”
Winnings on the terraces might have been even higher, with odds going as high as 80/1, according to one bookie. At such odds a bet of R500 would have returned R40 000, a sight more than the R15 000 the South African team took in prize money.
The bookie said the market shifted dramatically during the day. ”South Africa started on 16/10, which went as high as 80/1 by half time. When they looked on track for victory the odds dropped as low as 8/10, but jumped back up to 12/1 when a wicket fell.”
He said the turf accountants scrambled to limit the damage in the afternoon when Herschelle Gibbs was in full flight. He would not disclose the day’s biggest winnings. ”You have to remember that a lot of people also lost money by backing Australia.”
According to the Australian media, the result dented both Oz pride and pockets. Some placed bets as high as Au$20 000 on Rickie Ponting’s men. This also looks like a patriotic gesture: given odds of 100/1 on an Australian victory, a $20 000 stake would have bagged the punter just $200.