Our pub syndicate won £3million in three weeks using maths to pick winning horses and beat odds of 993billion-to-one

A LUCKY group of friends won £3 million in just three WEEKS after a winning streak on the horses.

The Stockport punters beat shocking odds estimated at 993 billion-to-one and now the key to their success has been revealed.

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A new book, £3 million in 3 Weeks – The Squirrel Syndicate – A Gambler’s Tale, puts forward a formula Richard Brocklebank and Charles Yates used to scoop the jackpot.

The Squirrel Syndicate played in the Tote’s flagship Scoop6 pool – a bet similar to the Tote Jackpot – that results in players being eliminated from the game after each race.

As races continue, more and more people lose, which makes the final jackpot larger for the winner, or winners if there are more than one.

Richard Brocklebank, also known as The Squirrel, employed skills from his background in mathematics and physics to place the bets.

He also joined forces with Sun journalist Charles Yates and soon the Squirrel Syndicate was formed.

As reported by the Racing Post: “Whenever Brocklebank, Yates or a handful of other regular Scoop6 players had a winning ticket, they would set about getting the other winners on board to increase all their chances of landing the bonus and the approach has paid handsome dividends.”

Brocklebank said: “The first £1.5 million in that remarkable run came on a Saturday at Newmarket when an Irish-trained horse called Leg Spinner won the Cesarewitch.

“At the start of the bet we calculated our chance of success at six per cent, but one member of the syndicate was keen on some French raiders at Newmarket.

“We decided to place a perm taking those into account.

“From more than 800,000 tickets in at the start of the bet, just 21,340 were still standing when Miss Lucifer at 20-1 won the first leg, but that also saw our chance of the win dipping to around two per cent.

“By the final leg we had still had eight tickets alive in the win pool and most of the 16 of us in the syndicate that week had met in the Three Tunnes pub to watch the final leg.

“When Leg Spinner won the race carrying our single ticket, the beers went flying. We drank the bar dry that evening celebrating.”

Of the October 2007 win, Richard added: “With £1,519,301 due in my bank account, we missed the bonus the following Saturday.

“Undaunted, we went on the attack the next weekend with a new £424,674 win fund, and that bonus had now grown to £1,137,972.

“Once again, we met in the Three Tunnes to watch the final leg. This time the winner was greeted with stunned silence in the pub as we couldn’t believe we had done it again, but we duly drank them out of beer once more.

“We now had a free selection for a £1,137,972 bonus fund the following weekend and won that.”

But the book doesn’t just follow the wins of professional gamblers.

It also contains stories of those who were lucky enough to join forces with Richard and Charles.

One man, Bob Blackhurst, won an eye-watering amount of cash just three weeks after undergoing open-heart surgery.

A single mum also landed herself a fortune and was able to buy a new home for herself and her children.

While it is sure to resonate with racing fans, the book could also be a guide to the regular person’s life-changing win.

Proceeds made from signed copies will be donated to The Thomas Russell Cancer Trust Fund, a charity supported by The Syndicate.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk