A grandfather has finally been given his £400 bet winnings he was entitled to after a bookies refused to pay him. Following intervention from the Sunday People, Coral agreed to give Leo Antonaci his World Cup bet cash.
The 65-year-old said: “I would like to thank you for all your help and I honestly believe that I would not have had the same outcome without your help.” Retired mechanic Leo Antonaci, of Warlingham, Surrey, put £5 on a 3-3 draw at 80/1 with Coral for the World Cup final between France and Argentina, the Mirror reports.
Leo asked for the betting assistant at Coral to write “before penalties’” on the slip. And as he predicted, Argentina went on to win from the spot after extra-time finished.
But Leo was told his bet was null and void when he tried to collect his winnings. The bookies told him it was because the score after 90 minutes was 2-2.
Leo said: “I asked the woman behind the counter to write ‘before penalties’ on the slip – and 3-3 was the score before penalties. There’s no other way of interpreting it. They’ve said the result of the match was 2-2 – but that was after 90 minutes. Not before penalties.”
Leo said he will give some of his winnings to charity. He added: “I know it’s not a life-changing amount but every little helps at the moment.”
A Coral spokesman said “Although we don’t offer a correct score market that includes extra time, and the 80/1 odds laid were for 3 v 3 after 90 minutes, we have made an ex-gratia payment to the customer... he placed the bet and we laid it in good faith.”
