Punter wins thousands with best bet of the entire season thanks to dramatic late twist

A punter won an eye-watering amount of money from a 6-fold accumulator on Saturday – but it very nearly never happened.

For many football fans, placing a bet on a Saturday morning is part of their match day routine.

Several sayings spring to mind, some may say, “Never bet on the early kick-off” or “Don’t bet on your rivals”.

All of this is part of the fun. Some supporters even bet against their own team to soften the blow if they lose.

Most of the time, by 3:30 pm, many people’s chances of winning with their accumulator look bleak.

But every so often, luck can be on your side.

This was the case for one lucky punter on Saturday afternoon. Kurtis Shapley (@kurtisshapleyx) took to X, sharing his ludicrous winnings. But he very nearly ended up with nothing.

Shapley had placed £50 stake on a 6-fold acca backing Aston Villa, Everton, Leicester City, Portsmouth, Burnley and Bolton all to win their respective games.

Most of the results were going well, but with Southampton 2-0 up against Leicester after 28 minutes, his chances of winning looked highly unlikely.

But the Foxes fought back, with Facundo Buonanotte’s 64^th-minute strike providing a glimmer of hope. Ten minutes later, Leicester were level thanks to Jamie Vardy’s penalty.

Steve Cooper’s side continued to display attacking intent, with winger Abdul Fatawu terrorising the Southampton defence with his trickery.

Fatawu won the Foxes a corner in the 98^th minute. At this point, Shapley was presumably feeling nervous, excited and everything in between.

One strike of the football stood between him and £23,747.94. It was now or never - squeaky bum time.

Harry Winks stood over the ball before delivering a pinpoint ball to veteran forward Jordan Ayew, who shot past a sprawling Aaron Ramsdale to the delight of the travelling fans but even more to the disbelief of the punter, who is set to pocket nearly £24,000.

Kurtis Shapley)

The screenshot of his bet has been viewed 5,000,000 times on X alone, with users giving their thoughts on the miraculous win.

Shapley mentioned Bet365 in a tweet asking if they could “hurry up and settle my bet?” to which the company’s official account replied: “We are aware of a delay with bet settlement. Any outstanding bets will be settled in line with the official results and statistics as quickly as possible.”

One user said: “Scenes when Leicester scored.”

Another added: “Yeah, bro they definitely kicking you out and making you wait as long as possible before they pay you if they pay you.”

With a third saying: “I’ll be having a sugar instead of a sweetener.”