Meet the Man Who Won $24K Betting on the Moon Landing
Darren Rovell
6/16/19
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.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">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.
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The oddsmakers actually weren’t wrong that it was considered a longshot back in 1964. Just months before, NASA internally had put the chance of a U.S. man meeting John F. Kennedy’s goal and landing on the moon by the end of the decade at 1-in-20.
David Threlfell wasn’t necessarily a betting man.
He didn’t bet on dogs or horses and later admitted “I’m not really interested in gambling.”
But there was something about a moon bet that intrigued him.
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“It just came to me one day,” Threlfell told David Frost’s show on BBC of his request for the custom bet.
And so, he became the first bettor to wager on a moon landing.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">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.
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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.
Thirty minutes after landing, a William Hill executive presented him with a 10,000 pound check on the show. He would not be taxed because he made the bet before a gambling levy was instituted two years prior.
Threlfell said he would give half to his parents and would put some aside to invest in stocks. He also spent $3,000 on a new wardrobe and a good chunk on a cruise to the Bahamas, where he was followed around by British press.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">At the time, William Hill said it was going to hold off on taking bets on a human landing on Mars, noting the payout it had to make on the moon (Threlfell’s $24,000 is worth $168,000 today).
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The oddsmakers should have taken it, as they would have been holding money for at least 50 years.
As for Threlfell, he died the year after winning the bet in a car accident in Scotland.
Darren Rovell
6/16/19
- Back in April 1964, bookmakers at William Hill in the UK set the odds of a man landing on the moon at 1,000-1.
- David Threlfell, a 21-year old Englishman, placed a 10-pound bet at those odds and ended up a big winner five years later when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 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.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">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.
</mark>
The oddsmakers actually weren’t wrong that it was considered a longshot back in 1964. Just months before, NASA internally had put the chance of a U.S. man meeting John F. Kennedy’s goal and landing on the moon by the end of the decade at 1-in-20.
David Threlfell wasn’t necessarily a betting man.
He didn’t bet on dogs or horses and later admitted “I’m not really interested in gambling.”
But there was something about a moon bet that intrigued him.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);"></mark>
“It just came to me one day,” Threlfell told David Frost’s show on BBC of his request for the custom bet.
And so, he became the first bettor to wager on a moon landing.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">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.
</mark>
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.
Thirty minutes after landing, a William Hill executive presented him with a 10,000 pound check on the show. He would not be taxed because he made the bet before a gambling levy was instituted two years prior.
Threlfell said he would give half to his parents and would put some aside to invest in stocks. He also spent $3,000 on a new wardrobe and a good chunk on a cruise to the Bahamas, where he was followed around by British press.
<mark style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(196, 237, 221);">At the time, William Hill said it was going to hold off on taking bets on a human landing on Mars, noting the payout it had to make on the moon (Threlfell’s $24,000 is worth $168,000 today).
</mark>
The oddsmakers should have taken it, as they would have been holding money for at least 50 years.
As for Threlfell, he died the year after winning the bet in a car accident in Scotland.
