A punter who cried foul after a high street bookies refused to pay out £400 has got his winnings thanks to the Sunday People.
Following our intervention Coral contacted retired mechanic Leo Antonaci, 65, and agreed to pay up.
He 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.”
Millions of football fans all over the globe were thrilled by Sunday’s epic World Cup final between France and Argentina.
But perhaps few more so than Leo, of Warlingham, Surrey, as he had stuck a fiver on a 3-3 draw at 80/1 with Coral.
He even asked the betting assistant to scrawl “before penalties’”on the slip.
Argentina went on to win from the spot after extra-time finished – just as Leo predicted.
But when he tried to pick up his winnings, the grandfather was told his bet was null and void – 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 plans to give a chunk of his £400 winnings to charity, and spend the rest over Christmas. He said: “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.”
