article: "In the history of betting, certainly since it was legalised in 1961, a [single event] winner with odds of 5,000-1 has never happened," says Simon Clare from the betting firm Coral. "Every bookmaker is crying out in pain. "That's a barometer of what Leicester have done and just how amazing this win is." Jessica Bridges from rival Ladbrokes agrees. "This is the biggest sporting upset of all time. We've all got a bit of egg on our face." Bookmakers have been cheering Leicester's success, whilst simultaneously putting their hands in their collective pockets. William Hill has paid out more than £20,000 to 39-year-old carpenter, Leigh Herbert. He was one of the canny few to take up the now-famous odds of 5,000-1 for his team to win. Although he has been a supporter since he was 10, he doesn't usually put his money where his heart is. But, mulling over their prospects on a camping holiday he found he was encouraged by the team's performance at the end of last season, and, taking a shine to the appointment of Claudio Ranieri as manager, he decided to put down the £5 bet for his team to win. "I thought, they're going to do something special this season," he says. "I really enjoyed the first half of the season, the second half just got harder and harder. "I would feel sick watching them play." Eventually, he cashed out £2 of his £5 bet, making £5,600, but left the £3 remainder in place, which eventually won him £15,000. A big party is in order this weekend - as well as house hunting with his new deposit. Bookmakers, like Coral, estimate the industry as a whole will have paid out around £20m over the title win. Coral themselves lost £2m. But bookmakers won't have lost out overall, admits Ladbrokes' Alex Donohue. Although Ladbrokes are losing £3m on Leicester this week, throughout the season a lot of bets were placed on the favourites, such as Chelsea and Manchester City, which will have more than cushioned the blow. "£3m is a record net payout for a title winner, but we did well out of Leicester upsetting the odds to get there. No complaints at all," he tweeted. Ladbrokes are "by no means crying out in pain" over the season in general, says Mr Donohue. Bookmakers do best when a second or third favourite team wins the title, he says. Title win an amazing feeling - Ranieri Leicester 'can make £150m from PL title' The greatest sporting story of all time? The wearable tech giving sports teams winning ways More importantly for bookmakers Leicester's win is a great story. The bookmakers were much slower than the punters to believe that Leicester could win the title. The problem was not so much the long odds at the start of the season, but the fact that they were so slow to respond to Leicester's success. At Christmas, when the Foxes were unbeaten for 10 games in a row, the odds were still quite high, in Coral's case they were still at 33-1
summary: The betting industry is licking its financial wounds.