15 Years Later, Crazy Bet on Grandson Worth $200K

Like a good return on your investment? Try betting that a toddler will become a professional athlete—a gamble that turned $80 into roughly $202,000 for a grandfather in Wales, the BBC reports. Peter Edwards, 62, made the bet on grandson Harry Wilson nearly 17 years ago and just cashed in at 2,500-to-1 odds. "I've retired one year early," says Edwards, an electrical contractor. "I have come home now and will not be going back. Not bad for a daft bet."

Edwards says he put the money down with a bookmaker after seeing little Harry "chase a ball around on the carpet before he could walk." When Wilson rose to the professional ranks, sources speculated that England might woo him, but the midfielder chose to sign with Wales. Still, his debut was gut-wrenching for Grandpa: "I was shattered because I had to wait for 85, 86 minutes before he came on," he says. "But when he came on I had another glass of wine. [I was] a proud granddad first for sure." (More soccer stories.)