'Gutted' football fan misses out on £800,000 during match

A man missed out on a life-changing amount of money on a football bet because he cashed out just minutes too early. Ethan Conway, from Mountain Ash, staked £219 on three scores on the final day of the 2023-24 Premier League season on Sunday, May 19.

The 24-year-old scaffolder had correctly predicted the results for Brighton 0-2 Manchester United, Liverpool 2-0 Wolves, and Sheffield United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur. But after Diago Dalot secured the first goal for Man United, making it 1-0, Ethan decided to play it safe and cashed out £5,130 when there was just 15 minutes remaining of game.

He was feeling "over the moon" about his impressive winnings until Rasmus Hojlund made it 2-0 in the 88th minute. If he had waited just minutes for the second goal he would've bagged an incredible £814,000 on the 3717/1 bet, reports WalesOnline.

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Understandably he was "gutted" to realise he had been just inches away from the life-changing fortune. "I was just tamping, really. Just heartbroken disbelief if anything," he said. "I was looking at new cars, new houses, but obviously it's a different story now. [My family and friends] were in disbelief as well. But obviously they're happy that I won the five grand."

Ethan, who is a Liverpool supporter, watches football often and normally bets on matches every weekend but he said this is the first time he's got lucky and won as much as £5,000. "I just had a rough guess and it just came in. Just pure luck," he said.

He plans to save the money and said there is "no chance" he'll be betting any again time soon. "I've come out of it now. I've just won that and run," he laughed. "I probably will [bet again] but not yet. I'll have to get over this one first. It's just the 50/50 chance of it you either cash out or you don't. I'm just gutted really."