Football Punters Win £25 Million on Worst Day Ever for Bookies

British bookmakers have suffered their heaviest losses ever on football this weekend, estimated at over £25 million pounds, due to what has been described as a 'perfect storm' in terms of football results.

Simon Clare, Coral spokesman, explained, "The football results on Saturday were absolutely shocking for bookmakers. Fourteen of the top fifteen best backed selections all won and by this morning thousands of small stakes punters across Britain had landed winning accumulators paying £500 or more."

"Coral had fifty customers winning £2,000 or more for stakes of between £1 and £20 on football accumulators, but we knew there would be many more accumulators running on to Manchester City and Liverpool on Sunday. We were praying for some respite today but the perfect storm continued, with City and Liverpool both winning, and, based on our losses, the UK betting industry will have lost over £25 million pounds in 48 hours", said Clare.

"These are the biggest losses that the betting industry has suffered since Frankie Dettori rode seven winners in an afternoon at Ascot in September 1996, and it's not even over yet as there will be many more accumulators still running on to Arsenal Monday night," added Clare.

One customer that is representative of hundreds more across Britain this weekend, is John Sinclair from Acklington, Northumberland. John, 31 years old, placed a £2 accumulator bet on Coral's website with eighteen selections and all eighteen selections won netting him a return of £40,600 pounds.

John Sinclair, said this afternoon, "It was my birthday on Saturday and I couldn't have dreamed of a better present. We've just had our second baby and thanks to this amazing win I will be able to pay off some of my mortgage and other debts and make life more comfortable. To be honest I'm still in total shock".

"The only positive, and it's a small one for bookmakers, is that the vast majority of customers that have won this weekend are our most loyal, regular football customers who place these small stakes accumulators week in week out and will continue to do so now for many years to come. Even a £25 million pound cloud has a very small silver lining", concluded Clare.

Footballp-Data's edit: Note to John: give up betting now! You've got lucky and should enjoy the success. Be under no illusion that week in, week out, the Britsh bookmaker's staple diet is ridulous accumulators like yours. It's the losses suffered by the millions of mugs that place these bets which pays for the few fortunate ones like yourself. Don't hand it all back to the bookmakers because you now believe you're suddenly God's gift to forecasting football matches. Your win represents the good side of gambling. Don't let it colour your judgment and end up with the bad side.