Punter Wins £250,000 After Bellingham’s Last-gasp Goal for England Vs Slovakia

A player must correctly predict the half-time score, full-time score, first goalscorer, first booking, number of corners, minute of the first goal and whether or not there will be a penalty in the game: One lucky bettor did just that, writes Davidson Abraham

On Sunday, one lucky punter won £250,000 thanks to Jude Bellingham’s last-gasp goal against England against Slovakia. The Three Lions looked certain to be heading out of Euro 2024 as they trailed for much of the last-16 clash in Gelsenkirchen following Ivan Schranz’s 25th-minute opener.

Gareth Southgate’s side were out of ideas until Bellingham’s stunning bicycle kick in the 95th minute took the tie to extra time before Harry Kane then nodded home to book England a quarter-final showdown against Switzerland on Saturday.

And, while Bellingham’s goal sparked wild celebrations across the country, one fan had even more reason to eulogize over the Real Madrid star.

Joanne Gordon, a 50-year-old who hails from Coventry, won the jackpot prize on ITV Picks, a free-to-play game where players must answer seven questions correctly about a game at Euro 2024 to scoop up £250,000.

Joanne got every outcome spot on for England’s clash with Slovakia, including Schranz being the first goalscorer and Marc Guehi being the first player to get booked, as she became the first-ever ITV Picks winner.

After her dramatic prize pot was secured, Joanne – who admitted she wasn’t a football watcher – thanked Bellingham and explained her feelings following the triumph.

“I don’t really know how to put it into words. It’s extremely surreal,” Joanne said. “You hear about people winning big amounts of money and you think, ‘good for them’ you know, I’ll try and win myself and you never really consider that it might happen.”

Joanne’s predictions also included the correct minute at which the opening goal would be scored, and once all of her picks came in – something she admitted her husband seemed to be more excited about than her – she opened up on feelings of jubilation.

She added, “We thought at that point we had won, but we weren’t 100 per cent sure, so as we were going out, I thought I’d just log in on my phone and have a look, and I saw the leaderboard, and my name, and the amount, and I said to myself ‘no, this isn’t real’. It still hasn’t really sunk in. It still feels not real.”

With an extra £250,000 in the bank, Joanne then revealed what she planned to do with her winnings.

She said, “We’ve already decided we’re going to give each of the children some money to set them up, but it’s still not sunk in really. You say to yourself you can now afford to do this, that and the other, or even have a holiday, because a holiday wasn’t even on the cards for us this year.”

WORDS ON MARBLE

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