Being one of the biggest teams in one of the biggest football leagues on the planet, it should be no surprise that some extraordinary bets have been made on Arsenal over the years. It’s the bets that we all wish we could make, but that you can never predict before they happen—you can only hope. Often we’ll see that sportsbooks promote one off odds offered like those at scs.ie, but rarely do these wild bets come through. Some of these bets have come with truly life-changing winning sums, so today we’re going to look at some of the biggest bets that have been made on Arsenal over the years.
Let’s get started.
Callum McGinley
Widely publicised in the sports news was one particularly lucky, or you might say savvy, win from an Arsenal fan named Callum McGinley, who goes by Callux. In October of 2022, Arsenal were slated to play Nottingham Forest at the Emirates stadium. Callum made a pretty ambitious bet but one which would turn out incredibly well for him. At a stake of £125, Callum had placed a bet that Arsenal would win 5-0, and that Martinelli would be the first goal scorer. He had been given odds of 33/1. The game started off well for the punter as Martinelli did indeed score with a goal in only the fifth minute of the match.
Minutes from full time, Arsenal were, staggeringly, 5-0 up against Nottingham. At this point, the tension was incredibly high for McGinley, as he hoped, paradoxically, that his team would stop scoring against Nottingham and his bet would end up winning. With Arsenal’s victory at full time at 5-0, not only had the side returned to the top of the league, but Callum’s wildest betting dreams had indeed come true.
At a stake of £125 on odds of 33/1, with every part of his bet coming true, McGinley took home the enormous win of £4250 after the game. This is doubtless one of the biggest wins on Arsenal betting in recent history, and it’s always incredible to see a bet like this pay off. McGinley took a huge chance, but clearly he knew what he was doing when it came to this match.
Drake
You might not expect the likes of Canadian rapper to have much interest in betting on English League football, but nonetheless Drake’s bet on Arsenal represents one of the biggest stakes in the history of betting on the club. Drake has been known to bet big on the football over the years, and some from within the teams have come to think of it as a “curse”. The bet was worth CA$833,333 and was placed on two teams to win: Arsenal in their match at Leeds, and he backed Barcelona to win against Real Madrid. This is about £537,000 at the time, and the win would have been worth over £2.5 million.
Arsenal showed good promise, and with a goal from Bukayo Saka, they were able to hold on to a 1-0 win at Leeds through to the end. Things were certainly looking good for Drake’s bet at this point, but unfortunately Barcelona’s feelings about the Drake Curse seem to have been well founded. Real Madrid were able to put three in the back of the net, and though Barcelona would bring the game up to 3-1, they were unfortunately not able to win. This was the side’s first loss of the whole season—only convincing punters, players, and managers alike that a bet on your side from Drake meant a curse. Of course, Arsenal had done just fine despite the bet from Drake—but that was no consolation to Barca.
One of the biggest single bets ever made on Arsenal, then, would unfortunately be doomed to failure, but this is not because of Arsenal’s performance. Of course, if you have more than half a million pounds to spend on a bet in the first place, then ultimately it won’t matter all that much whether you win or lose—the difference between Drake’s stake and his loss, versus the comparatively small win of Callum McGinley, goes to show the world of difference between them. That £4250 no doubt meant far more to Callum than Drake’s win would have made to him.
Some people just have all the luck, it seems. Arsenal has always been a sure thing to bet on, consistent as they have been over recent decades. At the same time, though, not everyone is willing to take the chances that can mean you will really win big. From the punters to the celebs with lots of money to spend, there’s the chance of winning big with Arsenal and making some serious money on the bets—but at the same time the bets we’ve looked at here are never the ones you can predict. If they were, then the bookmakers would be out of business pretty quick!
