Posted on: June 18, 2024, 07:22h.
Last updated on: June 18, 2024, 07:29h.
One BetMGM customer was two minutes and about two inches away from winning a £2 million (US$2.5 million) payout on the Euro 2014 soccer championships Tuesday.
In the lead up to the game between Portugal and the Czech Republic (Czechia) at the Leipzig Stadium in Germany, BetMGM alerted Casino.org that a UK woman who had participated in its free-to-play Golden Goals game was in for a shot at the big prize.
The London-based player had already correctly predicted five out of six Euros games: Spain 3 – Croatia 0; Italy 2 – Albania 1; Poland – 1 Netherlands 2; Serbia 0 – England 1, and Austria 0 – France 1.
If Portugal could beat the Czech Republic 3-1 – which was exactly the same score last time the two teams met in the same competition in 2008 – the unnamed player would be the first to win BetMGM’s Golden Goals promotion. The promo ran throughout the 2023/34 EPL season, without a winner, before being transferred to the Euros.
Bet Still On
Ronaldo’s Portugal are one of the tournament favorites, but they initially struggled to capitalize on a dominant first half in Leipzig.
The 11/1 BetMGM offered on a 3-1 Portugal win at the beginning of the game would have drifted substantially at half time. That’s after Czech keeper Jindřich Staněk made a string of saves from Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, while Portuguese winger Rafael Leão also went close.
Lukáš Provod’s 63rd-minute super-strike – one of the team’s few attempts on goal – stunned Portugal, but at least it meant the bet was still “on,” albeit remotely. Essentially, Portugal had 30 minutes to score three goals.
The odds narrowed a little more when Czech defender Robin Hranac put the ball in his own net after a cruel ricochet against Staněk from a Leão header.
Then, with minutes left, Diego Jota thought he’d narrowed those odds even further when he reacted quickly to a Ronaldo header that had bounced back off the post.
Jota put the ball in the net, but a VAR replay showed Ronaldo’s elbow had been offside by a matter of inches.
White-Knuckle Ride
Portugal snatched a winner in the 92nd minute through substitute Francisco Conceição, leaving a white-knuckle final two minutes for the BetMGM customer.
It wasn’t to be. But she still won £5,000 for her first five predictions, with absolutely no outlay whatsoever. The player wasn’t available to comment on whether that feels like a £5,000 win or a £1,995,000 million loss.
Portugal is currently fourth favorite, at 6-1, to win the tournament, after England (4-1), France (4-1), and home nation Germany (5-1).
