A SUPER-PUNTER from Hampshire was celebrating today after cham-pionship victory for Manchester United turned his £130 bet into a jackpot of nearly £600,000.

The anonymous gambler from Basingstoke scooped the massive win after victory for Alex Ferguson's side over Tottenham this afternoon meant he had correctly predicted the winners of all divisions in England and Scotland.

Bookmakers Corals, who must now pay out a total of £589,309 on the eight-way accumulator, said the prize represented the largest return on an original stake in soccer betting history.

The one-man bookies' nightmare placed a series of three identical bets - one at £50 and two at £40 - in August and September last year, predicting the winners of each of the eight divisions.

A Corals spokesman said: "This is certainly the biggest return for a football better in betting shop history."

As well as predicting Premiership glory for Manchester United at 7/4, the punter foresaw championships for Sunderland in Division 1 (10/3), Fulham in Division 2 (11/2) and Brentford in Division 3 (5/1).

In Scotland, he correctly forecast that Rangers would carry off the Premier title at 4/6 followed by Hibernian for the Scottish First (10/11), Livingstone for the Scottish Second (5/4) and Ross County for the Scottish Third (6/5).

The lucky winner even managed to prevent the tax-man from taking a slice of his winnings by paying tax on his original stake.

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