One of the biggest sporting events in the world, the World Cup is ongoing in Qatar, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for punters to win a fortune, writes Nseobong Okon-Ekong
The historic win of Saudi Arabia’s national team over Argentina in the ongoing World Cup in Qatar is celebrated in many memorable ways, including a public holiday in Saudi Arabia. However, brave punters are raking in an unbelievable fortune.
For the Argentina loss, 31-year-old Tyler Faraz Niknam won £1.3 million after placing bets on four World Cup games. He staked a decent $25,000 bet in the first week of the tournament, including Saudi Arabia’s shock 2-1 win against Argentina.
According to a Daily Mail, Niknam supported France, the reigning World Cup champions, to defeat Australia. He also accurately predicted the draws in the matches involving Mexico, Poland, and Denmark.
Niknam has quite an impressive history. His profile on Wikipedia states that he was the second most watched Twitch streamer during the 2020 United States presidential election, hitting 607,000 hours watched on election night (18.2 per cent of total hours watched across Twitch).
In June 2021, Niknam moved to Canada to continue his online gambling streams and to evade US cryptocurrency tax laws. Streamers gambling on Twitch were criticised due to the alleged harmful influence that they may have on underage viewers. Niknam continued his gambling streams despite the criticisms. Large wins on his streams are typically followed by the broadcast of a message discouraging gambling by Niknam.
In 2021, Niknam was the second highest-earning slot streamer on Twitch. In October 2022, Niknam claimed to have been paid $360 million by sponsors to gamble on stream over a 16-month period.
On the other hand, a football fan lost over $160,000 after placing a bet on Argentina versus Saudi Arabia World Cup match.
British online newspaper Independent stated that “online betting platform TAB has confirmed that someone placed $160,000 on Lionel Messi’s side to kick off their World Cup campaign with a win in Doha,” adding that “at odds of $1.13, the bet would have returned the fan $180,800 (£90,000), representing a profit of just $20,000 (£16,000) when compared to the huge sum they had to put on in the first place.”
In a funny turn of events, TV host James Corden who has been under heavy criticism was made part of the bets by fans who detest his foul mouth. Several fans requested that Corden remain with the winner of the match between England and the US.
For cashing out before the final whistle, a fan of England got a disappointing £9 bet on a 6-2 victory over Iran. He was not patient enough.
Betting on odds of 200/1, one punter won a sweet £2,000.
