posted 07-20-2020 06:42 AM               

In April 1964, a 21-year-old English man [David Threlfell] wrote a letter to William Hill asking the sportsbook what odds it will give him for man to land on the moon.

It was months before Ranger 7 would give NASA the first pictures of the lunar surface and time didn't necessarily appear to be on the side of either the Americans or the Russians.

So when the mail came back from William Hill soon after, it wasn't a huge surprise where it set the odds: 1,000-1. The expiration date? Jan. 1, 1971, for any person from any country to land on the moon...

Threlfell placed a 10-pound bet to win 10,000 pounds, which at the time was the equivalent of a $24 bet to win $24,000.

On July 20, 1969 — five years after placing his wager — Threlfell watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon and was celebrated live on the BBC's air.

posted 07-20-2020 08:12 AM               

William Hill allowed him odds of 1,000 to 1 "for any man, woman or child, from any nation on Earth, being on the Moon, or any other planet, star or heavenly body of comparable distance from Earth, before January, 1971."

Once the media learned of his offbeat wager, lunar betting became wildly popular in the United Kingdom, where bookmakers routinely accept wagers on everything from election results to tomorrow's weather. By year's end, payoffs dropped to 100 to 1 (for the USSR's space program) or 150 to 1 (for the U.S.), and as missions succeeded, the odds fell further. Uncrewed Luna 9's soft landing in April 1966 spurred another flurry of moon bets at 8 to 1, and by Gemini 9's flight that June, the odds further improved to 7 to 4.