Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
Someone I knew was part of a syndicate where he worked in the late 70s/early 80s and they got quite a big win - big enough for him to move out of his council flat and get a mortgage (and he was in his late 60s at this point!). I think the lottery offers a lot more of the whole get a life-changing amount for a small fee with little chance of winning and I don't know anyone who does the pools anymore
I recall the lady who won and said she'd 'spend, spend, spend'. Googling those words brings up the name Viv Nicholson, remember her? Never bought the poor woman any happiness .
I recall the lady who won and said she'd 'spend, spend, spend'. Googling those words brings up the name Viv Nicholson, remember her? Never bought the poor woman any happiness .
The BBC series Play for Today made a superb drama of her story in the 70's called Spend! Spend! Spend! I remember her characters final line saying the ironic thing was she didn't even win, it was her husband.
Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
You twice correctly guessed 13 results and all you got was a total of £800k ? Any of you mathematicians out there know what the odds are of guessing 13 results correctly ?
Whilst unemployed in 1989 and having got home from an away match at QPR, my housemate said I had a message to ring my Dad urgently. When I did, he told me that we’d got 8 score draws from 11. I’d previously worked with my Dad and us with 4 others still had the pools syndicate going. Seems ridiculous these days, but back then we had to wait until Wednesday to find out the dividend which was just over 86k or 14k each. One of our draws was a late kick off which had a last minute equaliser too. I had 12 months of travelling, buying my first car and being in a mostly pissed state.
Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
You twice correctly guessed 13 results and all you got was a total of £800k ? Any of you mathematicians out there know what the odds are of guessing 13 results correctly ?
Based on match odds, 13 results at Evens = 8191/1 - at 6/4 = 149,010/1
So depending on the stake, £800k looks pretty good!
In France, the possibility to play the odds or accas was only introduced about 15 years ago. As in today's Lotto or Euromillions, amounts distributed depended solely on number of correct guesses. To complete the story, for the first jackpot win, I was glued to the spanish radio because I was on 10 out of 10 a few minutes from the end. Saragossa drew, that made it 11, then Atalanta drew two all with Inter, that made it 12. It looked good for the last game because I had a win or draw for Osasuna against Real and Osasuna were leading 1-0. Then, pitch invasion, game interrupted and abandoned. I had therefore 2x13, which gave me more because less taxes had been deducted. Not that it mattered much. After all those years, the money is now all gone. However, I did buy a flat in Paris after the first win and a pharmacy for my wife with the second. Had to sell the flat to save the pharmacy (we had been cheated), which allowed us to live in relative ease for 20 years.
Adrian, must have been great moments when you won all those. We used to do a syndicate at work many years ago. Every week I was convinced we would win. I think we won about £10 once. Worked out 1.48 each! Good times...
My dad used to do the pools for years, and spot the ball too in the off season. I'd help pick the games when I was a kid. I can't have been much use, he never won more than a tenner!
I suppose the national lottery pretty much killed it.
Won approx. £3200 on Swiss Pools in the fifties when I was'nt yet 18. Never stopped since. Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961. Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985. Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France) Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results) The following year was my last decent win : £66,000 Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca. Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
Surely you could have got a top notch Private Detective in Blackpool for that?!?
Did it for many years with only minimal returns - but always enjoyed the checking on Saturday evening. Think the National Lottery killed it. "The Football Pools" was relaunched a year or two back as an App. I signed up and gave it a go but the App was awful - lots of bugs ad difficult to use. Gave up...
My neighbours in St Paul’s Cray won the jackpot. In those days it was about 250k. The guy who collected the money had pocketed their 37.5p and they never saw a penny. The Sun newspaper camped on the green outside our house, but our neighbours had moved away for a while. Was front page news back then, about 1970 I think. The two eldest sons tried to track the collector down to ‘ break every bone’, but they never found him.
Comments
If you’ve still got it, can I have a go?
Won £530 on Vernons in London in 1961.
Won £1550 on Zetters, in 1985.
Won £490,000 on French Pools in 1989 (jackpot, only one to guess 13 correct results in France)
Won £305,000 on French Pools in 1994 (only two of us to guess the 13 correct results)
The following year was my last decent win : £66,000
Nowadays, when in London, I'm lucky when I have 2 correct out of 7 in an acca.
Which is why I don't dare guess a Charlton score any more
When I did, he told me that we’d got 8 score draws from 11. I’d previously worked with my Dad and us with 4 others still had the pools syndicate going.
Seems ridiculous these days, but back then we had to wait until Wednesday to find out the dividend which was just over 86k or 14k each.
One of our draws was a late kick off which had a last minute equaliser too.
I had 12 months of travelling, buying my first car and being in a mostly pissed state.
As in today's Lotto or Euromillions, amounts distributed depended solely on number of correct guesses.
To complete the story, for the first jackpot win, I was glued to the spanish radio because I was on 10 out of 10 a few minutes from the end. Saragossa drew, that made it 11, then Atalanta drew two all with Inter, that made it 12. It looked good for the last game because I had a win or draw for Osasuna against Real and
Osasuna were leading 1-0. Then, pitch invasion, game interrupted and abandoned.
I had therefore 2x13, which gave me more because less taxes had been deducted. Not that it mattered much.
After all those years, the money is now all gone.
However, I did buy a flat in Paris after the first win and a pharmacy for my wife with the second. Had to sell
the flat to save the pharmacy (we had been cheated), which allowed us to live in relative ease for 20 years.
We used to do a syndicate at work many years ago. Every week I was convinced we would win. I think we won about £10 once. Worked out 1.48 each!
Good times...
I suppose the national lottery pretty much killed it.