Leicester punter wins £823,000 for just a £19 bet

A Coral online punter from Leicester yesterday won £823,000 for just a £19 bet, the biggest ever horse racing pay-out in the betting firm’s history, and the punter this morning described it as “the realisation of a lifetime dream”.

The male customer in his forties, who wishes to remain anonymous, placed a £19 accumulator bet on five horses running at Punchestown yesterday afternoon. However he didn’t even know he had landed his life-changing win until he came in from a night out in the early hours of this morning and checked the racing results.

“I’ve been placing these accumulator bets pretty much every day for twenty years, and winning this bet is the realisation of a lifetime dream. Over the years I’ve come close landing a big return a couple of times but kept hitting the woodwork, and now I’ve done it I feel remarkably calm. I don’t know if I’ll even carry on betting after this as I feel I’ve achieved my goal”, said the Leicester-based Coral customer.

The winning punter revealed that his approach to selecting the horses involved plenty of form study and research. “I put a lot of effort into picking my horses. I like to follow stables in form, I’ll study the breeding of the horses, and look at their recent performances. I then check which bookie has the best odds for my bet, and unfortunately for Coral, this time it was you guys.”

The successful punter, explained, “My Dad was a bookie and got me into it when I was young. My first winning bet was on Desert Orchid when he won the 1986 King George. I’ve followed the sport and been placing these bets ever since. I never place singles, only accumulators and nearly always with three or more horses in them. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money, as it’s only just sinking in, but I have a few ideas and it is going to change my life.”

This is the biggest ever horse racing bet that Coral has paid out and Simon Clare, Coral PR Director, said this morning, “This is the most incredible big-win story that we have ever encountered and a just-reward for our customer for twenty years of perseverance placing these ‘small-stake big-win’ bets day-in day-out.”