Two William Hill customers, who placed the two largest bets ever struck on the FA Cup Final, were celebrating after Liverpool\’s dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over West Ham.
One man went into a William Hill betting shop in Blackburn on Saturday morning and placed a bet of £100,000 on Liverpool to lift the trophy. At odds of 2/7, he collects £128,570. The other, from Hampshire, placed his bet over the phone last week, staking £84,000 at odds of 1/3, and receiving back £112,000.
“We had great hopes of beating these two record-breaking customers when West Ham led on two occasions, but their bravery paid off in the end – hopefully they will give us the chance to get the money back by betting on the World Cup,” said William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe.
In separate news, Scotland Yard said it may launch an investigation into the use of inside information at the West Ham-Tottenham Premiership match, which cost the UK betting industry millions of pounds. Bookmakers and betting exchanges, which reported a significant surge in betting on West Ham when they opened for business on the morning, suggested that Tottenham officials knew as early as 5am that 10 Spurs players were suffering from food poisoning.
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