by Anton Johan
One of William Hill sportsbooker's most regular customers, Nicholas Newlife,
regularly placed long term bets with the groups. He saw them as a kind of an
investment that may yield pleasant results down the line.
In the past, Newlife saw the potential there was to be had betting on tennis
superstar Roger Federer and even won a lump sum of £20,000 betting on the
player.
When Newlife passed away, his will read that any winnings that were made
posthumously would be donated to his favorite charities.
As such, Oxfam, the main charity beneficiary in Newlife's will, is waiting it
out to see whether a string of bets that the punter placed on sportsmen will pay
off eventually.
Newlife placed bets on Andy Roddick, Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies cricketer)
and Roger Federer.
A spokesman for William Hill, Graham Sharpe said in a statement: "Mr
Newlife passed away at the age of 69, leaving behind a string of potentially
very profitable sporting bets."
"He won over £20,000 for himself before he died and Oxfam have so far
collected £16,750 from a bet on Federer to win 14 Grand Slam titles, but
there is much more to come if all of the bets pay off," said Sharpe. "If Sarwan
can make 9000 runs in his test career they will win a further £109,000
windfall."
If all the bets are successful, Oxfam could stand to win £323,000 from
William Hill.
An Oxfam spokesman said: "We don't know why he chose us as there are no
obvious links. He was a bachelor with no children, but lived locally. They will
said he wanted the money to go help people".
William Hill confirmed that all the bets were made between 2002 and 2005. "Mr
Newlife was clearly a very shrewd gambler, but to ensure that a respected
charity would benefit from any bets which came to fruition after his death makes
him unprecedented in my 30 year experience in the betting industry," said
Sharpe.
