A bettor was surprised when collecting his winning £55,253 ($71,356) Tote Placepot wager that the kiosk at the Cheltenham Festival didn’t have enough cash on hand. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
The Cheltenham Festival is always full of feel-good stories. As one of Europe’s biggest horse racing meetings each year, there’s tons of interest from bettors. One lucky gambler’s £5 ($6.47) Tote Placepot bet came good after the opening day’s racing on Tuesday:
“One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity”
It is great to see that someone has landed the Placepot on Day 1 of the Cheltenham Festival and cleaned out the Tote 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/6wvGtulWvU
— RacingGav (@RacingGav) March 11, 2025 All of his selected horses finished among the places in their respective races, leading to a £55,253 ($71,536) payout. In a Placepot, people contribute toward a pool with their wagers. The payout depends on the total number of winners and one’s stake, with the bigger odds results getting a nice slice of the pie.
the employee at the Tote desk received an error message
When the bettor went to get his winnings, the employee at the Tote desk received an error message saying: “Insufficient funds to pay out. Please contact your manager.”
This yielded much amusement from bettors on social media. Of course, the Tote has the money to meet its obligations; the kiosk just didn’t have enough cash on hand at that time to pay the lucky bettor.
