A Decade-Long Bet Pays off on Valentine’s Day
Air hostess Melissa Curry and flight attendant Matt Dockray made a bet with their life and their love and it paid off in full. Melissa had been seeing Matt for only a couple of months, when she decided to place a bet on him putting a ring on it, so to speak. Her desire was to give her new boyfriend a special Valentine’s gift, back in 2006 so she went on to ask bookmaker William Hill for odds on their future wedding.
Melissa said: “I was trying to think of something original to get Matt for a Valentine’s Day present – let’s be honest, a guy doesn’t really want flowers and chocolates. Matt’s really into betting so I approached the bookmakers and asked them what odds they would give me on us getting married.”
While the initial odds that she got were 25 to 1, the bookmaker felt uneasy with her chances of winning, so William Hill went on to double the odds to 50 to 1, if the couple were still married in ten years’ time. Now, exactly 10 years later, the couple is still happily married and very-much in love, so Melissa cashed in on her wager with the faded betting slip which they had framed and claimed her winnings – £1,500.
“With no discernible form to go by we had no way of knowing whether Melissa and Matt would last the distance. They clearly have, and given that marriage these days is not necessarily for life, we will certainly not begrudge paying out., William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly was cited in saying.
Melissa and Matt tied the knot back in 2008 Mandalay Bay resort and are now the happy parents of a beautiful four-year old girl. With the money from the wager, the couple plans on taking a family trip to Barcelona.