He bet on the champion of Argentina, Messi MVP and finalist of France, and now they don’t want to pay him

There is no party ofto the Argentine soccer team that the fans don’t shout: “The one who doesn’t jump is an Englishman”. And one Englishman jumped, but with happiness, when he saw that the £10 bet (U$S12) brought him no less than £15,000 (U$S18,000).

liam variety hit the triple combination of who would be the world champion, who the other finalist and who would have been chosen as the best player of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The 30-year-old man placed a £10 bet on a combination of bets at a ‘Coral’ betting shop. He played on November 11, 9 days before the start of the World Cup, and his hitting odds were 1.495 to one.

Liam said he has already decided how to spend the prize after seeing his predictions come true: champion Argentina, runners-up France and best player Lionel Messi. He ran to the betting shops but had an unpleasant surprise: they told him they wouldn’t pay him, says the newspaper Mirror.

Liam is a maintenance engineer for Tutbury, Staffs., and had plans to buy his dad a new mobility scooter and save the rest with what he had left.

But gambling venue Coral said the bet was placed on events too “closely related” so they couldn’t be included in the same sum, despite Liam’s claim that an employee who took the bet he accepted it at the time to play

Liam said the company should pay as his bet was accepted without any issue, Birmingham Live claimed.

“I went to withdraw the bet and they said it shouldn’t have been placed and they offered me £660 (US$790),” the man said, disappointed.

Having looked into the bookmaker’s complaints system, Liam has referred it to an independent complaints committee and is awaiting a decision.

The bettor says that since his case became known, several companies have contacted him to tell him that if that was his company, they would pay the bet accordingly. “When I made the bet, the guy behind the counter said he was fine with it. Now they say it’s a related bet.”

“It’s been two weeks since the final and I feel like I’m getting nowhere. If there’s a mistake it’s their fault that they accepted the bet. It’s very frustrating,” he confesses anguished.

“Just under £15,000 to a major betting company is pennies to them, but for me it’s a life changing amount of money. My father is disabled so I was going to buy him a new mobility scooter and put the I stay in savings,” Liam says in reproducing statements Mirror.

The Coral house gave its version through a spokesperson: “The three events on which you bet are closely related to each other, therefore the prizes that were offered individually cannot be included in a multiple bet”.

And he tried to justify the decision: “If Argentina and France made it to the final, then the chances of Argentina winning are clearly much lower than they had at the start. If Argentina won the World Cup, the chances of Messi being the player of the tournament will be very high.”

So for now the frustrated punter has to settle for £660 after hitting all three accumulators.