Hope you had a good weekend! — Dan

The World Cup is in full swing, and it’s captured global attention — penalty kicks, red cards, upsets, and triumphs. And — for better or for worse (and if you ask me, it’s for worse) — it’s also captured the attention of the growing online sports betting industry. Online sportsbooks have found new and innovative ways to allow fans to gamble on the matches.

But no matter how creative they get, they’ll not top a wager made on Harry Wilson in 1998.

Harry Wilson (above), for those unfamiliar, is a Welsh footballer who, last year, played for Fulham F.C. of the English Premier League. He played in the 2022 World Cup for Wales (which didn’t qualify this year) and on October 15, 2013, he entered Wales’ game against Belgium and set a national record. At only sixteen years old, he became youngest player ever to play for Wales’ senior national team.

If you haven’t done the math yet, something above doesn’t quite add up. Wilson was 16 in 2013; the wager alluded to above was placed in 1998. Subtract the latter from the former and you end up with about one and a half. Or, in other words, someone made a bet on Harry Wilson’s soccer career when he was just 18 months old, which seems like a really stupid bet.

But in this case, it worked.

At some point in 1998, Wilson’s grandfather, Peter Edwards, saw his toddler grandchild find an early obsession with the soccer ball. As Edwards told CBS Sports, “[Harry] used to chase the ball around the front room on his hands and knees even before he could walk.” And instead of just smiling and enjoying the moment, Edwards decided to make a prediction. Convinced that Harry was destined for greatness, Edwards approached UK bookmaker William Hill and placed a wager — £50 (about $80) — that at some point, Wilson would play for the Wales national team. It was a longshot, and William Hill gave Edwards 2,500-to-1 odds.

When Wilson entered the Wales/Belgium match that October day in 2013, Peter Edwards was more than just a proud 62-year-old granddad — he was also one who was £125,000 ($200,000) richer.

But the biggest winner of the day may have been Edwards’ wife (and Wilson’s grandmother), Dorothy. Edwards was working as an electrical contractor, and that work took him away from home for weeks at a time. When Harry played — and Peter got paid — Edwards now had the cash needed to call it a career. As he told the BBC, “I retired immediately. I told my manager yesterday that if Harry plays I wouldn't be coming back” and that he “retired one year early.” Dorothy, he said, was “over the moon.”

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Today’s Bonus fact: In 2014, authorities in Singapore kicked off an anti-gambling campaign centered around the World Cup, taking out advertisements showing a young boy who is worried about his future. The boy, named Andy, tells a friend that “I hope Germany wins. My dad bet all my savings on them.,” and the tagline of the ad reads “Often, the people who suffer from problem gambling aren’t the gamblers.” The idea, of course, is that the bet was a waste of Andy’s college fund, and the dad was acting irresponsible. But the opposite turned out to be true. The ad campaign launched before the World Cup, and Germany ended up winning the tournament. As the BBC reported, “after Germany's success, people took to social media, joking that Andy's father should be congratulated. Officials updated the ad, with the boy's dad gambling away his winnings.”

From the Archives: The Greatest Soccer Player Who Never Was: Can’t bet on him!

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And thanks! — Dan