Nuneaton Man wins £413k and now has a shot at becoming a Millionaire

A Coral betting shop punter in Nuneaton on Saturday won £412,961 for just a £2 horse racing bet on the “Tote Scoop6”.

The customer, in his 60s, now has the chance to win a further £878,564 pounds bonus by selecting the winner of the “Tote Scoop6 Bonus race” next Saturday. Should he win the bonus, he will net a total of £1,291,525 making him the biggest winner in the history of betting in Britain.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, placed the £2 bet in the Coral betting shop in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. He spoke to Simon Clare from Coral today saying,

“I don’t always do the Scoop6 but I thought I’d have a go given how much money was at stake. I was working for the first three races, but then my daughter rang me to say they’d all won, so I watched the fourth and fifth races on telly, and then had to go out so followed the final leg on the Racing Post website commentary. When the final horse won I didn’t really know what to think and was amazingly calm,” said the man, who runs his own business.

“I saw the Betfred PR man quoted saying a ‘lucky’ punter had won the Scoop6 and I thought to myself, I wasn’t lucky, I’ve managed to pick six winners out of six. That’s skill not luck.”
He explained, “I’ve always been a punter. It’s in my genes as my dad was a bookies runner and my grandparents liked a flutter on the gee-gees, and I’ve been betting on horse racing since before I was 18 and probably a bit before.”

“It’s a great hobby. I only ever bet what I can afford to lose and have always gone to the races with my wife and three kids. Horse racing’s really moved on in recent years. In the old days you’d have the last race and then the bars would shut and you’d get kicked out. Now there are family days, entertainments for kids, and pop concerts after racing. It’s so much better. We went to Redcar last year and saw the Commitments and also saw Wet Wet Wet at Newmarket.”

When asked about next Saturday’s shot at the £878k bonus, the successful punter said, “I have chatted with a pal who follows racing closely too and we expect that the bonus race will be the Imperial Cup. We agreed to keep an eye on what David Pipe is running. Martin Pipe always used to have something for the Imperial Cup/Cheltenham bonus and won the race many times so his son might have something lined up.”

The man has not made any plans how to spend the £413k he has won, or thought what he would do if he won the £878k bonus too.