A punter from London has smashed betting records after taking William Hill for £335,671 as the third part of his hat-trick of bets came up trumps following Middlesbrough\’s amazing UEFA Cup semi-final comeback.
The bets which totalled £204,000 (£50,000 on Arsenal to win the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at 4/7; £100,00 on Arsenal to make the Champions League final at 4/9 and £54,000 on a double on both Arsenal and Middlesbrough to make their respective Champions League and UEFA Cup finals – each at 4/9) was the biggest wager taken by William Hill on a soccer match other than the World Cup.
In separate news, William Hill announced to have taken a hammering as for the second year running Chelsea won the Premiership title. More than 40 four-figure wagers were accepted by the bookmaker before the 2005/06 season even started.
“Chelsea winning has cost us a princely sum and at this stage you cannot see anyone knocking them off their perch,” said William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams. “As a result we are odds on (8/13) that they win their third title in a row and are offering 25/1 that they win the treble next year.”
Chelsea retained their title after they crushed Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.
Elsewhere, the Irish Football Association is to launch an inquiry into allegations that an Irish League game was fixed as part of a betting scam. The IFA will seek statements from both clubs, which may lead to players involved in the game being interviewed, but will also make a request to the public to come forward with any information.
As reported by the Racing Post, Best Bet John, a telephone betting firm linked to bookmaker William Claridge, blamed a “security problem” after cheques recently sent to winning punters bounced.
“We had a security problem, which we dealt with. As far as we’re concerned all the cheques will now go through without any problems,” said Jeff Stevens, area manager of both Best Bet John, which has nearly 4,000 customers, and William Claridge, a ten-shop chain.
“William Claridge has been in business for 43 years, and we’ve never upset anyone and have no intention of upsetting anyone. We did have a problem, but it won’t happen again, and we have spoken to most of the customers concerned and we said we would close their account if they were unhappy. Not one person has closed their account, and all we can do is apologise unreservedly.”
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