Cork punter scoops €500,000 from €20 bet

Lady luck was smiling on a fortunate Cork punter who won a staggering €500,000 for a €20 bet on racing yesterday.

The bet, which was placed in the Paddy Power betting office in Bantry, correctly predicted four horses to win on Grand National Day including the Irish-trained 33/1 winner of the feature race, Silver Birch.

The Corkman placed his bet in the Paddy Power office at noon yesterday and returned to the shop later in the afternoon to cheer home his last horse that was running in Lingfield at 5.20pm.

His four selections were Silver Birch (won at 33/1), Kings Key (won at 16/1) Al Eile (won 12/1), all at Aintree, and Paymaster General (won at 10/1) at Lingfield Racecourse.

"It's fantastic to see one of our regular punters winning a life-changing amount of money for a small bet," said Paddy Power. "We wish him the very best of luck.

"We're not complaining as we've had a run of great results for the past few months so you could say that we've had it coming."