Blackpool born Mike Futter took a huge gamble when he bet on his own horse in the Grand National. The bingo club owner who lives in Bangor, Northern Ireland, took a real chance and won over ₤1 million when he put his faith in his own horse, Monty’s Pass and placed bets on it at 33 – 1 for a win. He coined in over ₤800 000 in bets and a share of the ₤348 000 first prize money.

The fifty four year old bingo club owner was jubilant when his Irish trained horse won by 12 lengths over Supreme Glory. A Spokesman from Hill bookmakers said that a month before the race they took bets of ₤5 000 at 33-1 each way and a week later another bet of ₤10 000 at 20 – 1. They didn’t know who placed the bets, but they knew it was an Irish punter. So when bingo club owner Mike Futter won, they put two and two together and realized the bets must have been placed by him.

Mike Futter said that one of the things he enjoyed most about his win was collecting his winnings from the Aintree bookies.