So, you’ve been given a £10,000 free bet by Paddy’s Rewards Club, but what do you punt it on?
Two of our loyal customers faced that decision this weekend after being drawn to receive the mega-prize in our draw after they’d qualified by placing five £10 sports bets (or £50 in slot games) in a single week.
We caught up with Tom from York on Friday who told us he was using his £10k freebie on a double that could have netted him £16,000, if Leicester and Chelsea did the business last weekend.
Meanwhile, our other victor Johnny from London went all out on Spurs to be the first team to down Man City in the Premier League this season at 5/1.
Unfortunately, both of our punters were unsuccessful and because – like all free bets – they couldn’t keep the stake so they believed that their competition win had come to nothing. Well, with Christmas around the corner we couldn’t have that and we decided to surprise the guys with their £10,000 stake in hard cash anyways!
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We tried to tell our winners of their windfall at the final whistle of the Saturday evening kick-off, but in Tom’s case it looked like he’d given up the ghost and turned his phone off until Monday when he awoke to a stunning email.
“I woke up this morning with a massive hangover after my Christmas drinks at the weekend,” said Tom.
“When I came back from London I realised my boiler was broken, so I was covered in duvets and when I finally turned my phone on I was given an awful shock. It was an email from Paddy Power saying they’d put £10,000 in my account and I thought ‘money in my account, what’s going on?’.
“So, I called you guys back straight away to find out what was going on and I can’t believe I’ve won £10k”
Asked how he felt when Crystal Palace had put away his double inside the first half of Saturday’s early kick-off the Leeds United fan was philosophical about it all.
“Losing the £10,000 free bet was bittersweet, it was never my money to begin with,” Tom revealed.
“It was very frustrating it went in the first game though, I should have known never to bet on the early kick-off. Then to top it all off, Leeds won at 11/8 and I was going back them. It’s probably the only time in my life I’ve ever wanted them not to win!”
Asked how his mates reacted to Saturday’s early knockout, Tom took aim at the formerly goal-shy Christian Benteke.
“When the first goal flew in, there was complete silence from my mates. I could see that a few wanted to say something and if it was a normal bet, they would have had a laugh at my expense.”
“Palace hadn’t scored away from home all season, Christian Benteke had just had that awful penalty miss against Bournemouth and then he scores. I was like ‘are you kidding me?’.”
Finally, after initially planning a trip to the Southern Hemisphere with the cash, Tom now admits negotiations are underway on how to spend the money at home.
“I was planning a trip somewhere hot, but when I told the missus about the win she said straight away that we probably need a new car. Discussions are still ongoing on what we’ll do with it.
“It’s a really lovely Christmas present to get though, it’s amazing really,” Tom said before we let him go.
There you have it, all the more reason to get involved in Paddy’s Rewards Club and you can get all the info you need on it here.
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