TIPSTERS and experts were left scratching their heads after one punter turned a modest £1 free bet into a colossal £38,000 at Royal Ascot.
Melanie Burns, based in County Down in Northern Ireland, landed the second biggest Royal Ascot placepot winner in the last decade with a bold strategy… betting on the names she liked!
Punter turns £1 free bet into £38k at Royal Ascot thanks to genius Tote placepot selectionsGETTY
Melanie, who only recently opened an account with Tote, entered the free £1 placepot the firm offers every week.
To win a share of the prize money, punters need to have a horse placed in the first six races at any meeting.
Melanie noticed a lot of favourites were being beaten, and plenty of unfancied horses were hacking up during the first four days of the meeting.
So she got creative… by selecting horses with names that she liked, such as Golden Mind (12/1) and Streets of Gold (28/1) because they both had “Gold” in their names.
Sign up to Tote now to claim £20 in free bets
They both finished third in the opening two races on Saturday, while her third selection Lion Of War (9/2) — based on the fact she owns a cat — came second in the sixth.
Melanie said: “I’ve been trying to remember to do it every Saturday because it’s free, but I’ve never used the account really to put money back in it, so they probably hate me as a punter!
“Because Ascot has been such a gamble and no one’s really won [this year], I just thought on Saturday, ‘Right, I’m just going to bet on names of horses that I like’.
“I then put five pence each way on another betting account and I realised I’d won something because that came back and I got £43.
“So then I thought, ‘This is good from 10p, I’ll probably get about £90 or something’ because I knew I had all the other races on Tote.
“Then, it took a while to pay it out and when it came up, it said I had won £38,000.
“It does happen to people, and seriously, it’s never happened to me before. I’m absolutely delighted. I had no rhyme or reason, just names of horses I liked. I’m not a big better either.
“I was made redundant last year and I’ve just been helping out with people, cleaning and doing bits and pieces, which I’m still going to do because I like i.”
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
Establishes time and monetary limits before playingOnly gambles with money they can afford to loseNever chase their lossesDoesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressedGamcare – www.gamcare.org.ukGamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.
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