Football fan's £3m shattered dream
FOR three days Mark Thomas believed he was a millionaire.
After watching Blackpool draw 1-1 with Preston on Monday night, the 24-year-old believed the result, part of a football bet he placed, had scooped him up to £3m.
But his dreams of a champagne lifestyle were dashed – when staff at the bookies told him he had not read the small print.
Mark, from Radcliffe, quickly set about making plans after the final whistle blew. He planned to quit his job, buy a fancy new house, a flash car and go on holiday with his girlfriend and two-year-old stepson.
The next morning he raced to Ladbrokes to pick up his winnings but staff told him to come back three days later.
Thinking he would soon be rich, he even blew his spare cash in a roulette machine. But when Friday came and he returned to get his hands on his jackpot his dreams were shattered.
Shattered
The wager was based on the football pools. Punters choose 11 games they think will end in draws.
For each score draw they receive three points, a no-score draw gets two points and other results one point towards a target of 24. With the Blackpool result Mark thought he had hit the magical 24.
But he didn’t realise that only the top-scoring eight of his 11 choices counted towards the total. As a result he had not scored enough points to win – and the Asda worker’s grand plans had to be shelved.
Mark, a United fan who had backed City to draw with Hull, said he was left ‘gutted’. He added: “I didn’t believe it. I didn’t realise only eight games counted and I don’t think I’m going to get any money now. I didn’t know if it was going to be millions but I thought I’d get a fair few grand.”
Lamborhini
Speaking from his terraced home Mark admitted he had already planned how to spend the money.
He said: “I fancied an Audi R8, a Lamborghini and a £500,000 house. I was going to pay for the girlfriend to pass her test and treat the stepson to anything he wanted. I was even going to go somewhere a bit fancy like Dubai. It’s a good job I didn’t pack work in.”
A Ladbrokes spokesman said: “The bet was for 11 selections of which the highest eight scoring games count. Littlewoods set the rules and make the payouts. The rules are clear.”
