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A punter has finally got his £400 winnings after Coral initially refused to pay out on his 80/1 bet.

Leo Antonaci, 65, put a fiver on a 3-3 draw between Argentina and France in the World Cup final earlier this month. Although Argentina had maintained a 2-0 lead deep into the second half, France clawed their way back.

But Coral told the grandfather his bet was null and void – because the score after 90 minutes was 2-2.

Leo, a retired mechanic, said: “I asked the woman behind the counter to write ‘before ­penalties’ on the slip – and 3-3 was the score before penalties.

“There’s no other way of ­interpreting it. They’ve said the result of the match was 2-2 – but that was after 90 ­minutes. Not before penalties.”

Leo shared his dispute with Sunday People, which reports Coral has since acted in “good faith” to settle with the customer.

Leo, who lives in Warlingham, Surrey, plans to give a chunk of his £400 winnings to charity, and spend the rest over Christmas. He said: “I know it’s not a life-changing amount but every little helps at the moment.”

The grandad had asked the betting assistant to scrawl “before penalties” on the slip on December 18.

A Coral spokesman said: “Although we don’t offer a ­correct score market that ­includes extra time, and the 80/1 odds laid were for 3-3 after 90 minutes, we have made an ex-gratia payment to the customer… he placed the bet and we laid it in good faith.”

France’s forward Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the final 10 minutes of regular time to make the score 2-2. Each side scored in a dramatic extra time to send the final to penalties, which Argentina won to clinch their first World Cup since 1986.

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