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Barcelona foiled bettors who had taken a massive gamble on Manchester United as the bookmakers celebrated the Catalan club's 2-0 Champions League final win in Rome. William Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe described it as "an excellent result for us all round" while Paddy Power reported five times more bets on United than Barcelona.

Five and four-figure bets were commonplace on Sir Alex Ferguson's team with Hill's reporting a couple of £20,000 punts, Paddy Power one of £5,500 and Ladbrokes a £3,000 single bet. Barcelona did have their backers – Ladbrokes took a £10,000 bet at 19-10 while extrabet.com reported one of £10,000 at 10-11 – but most of the money was for United. Extrabet.com paid out £12,000 to a customer who staked £3,000 at 4-1 that Samuel Eto'o would score the first goal and were also stung courtesy of a £100 seller of the time of the first goal at 38 – netting him £2,800.

Last weekend saw Hill's get involved in a Help for Heroes promotion. The Leeds firm gave 28 free £50 bets to tipsters and celebrities towards the cause. But unfortunately it was a case of "where the money didn't go", as most experts couldn't find a winner. However, £6,736 was raised – a sum boosted by £3,000 from Hill's.

Punters had a better time of it on Sunday as inflated prices on Premier League teams who had ostensibly nothing to play for saw all of those teams win. Paddy Power reported a record £2.5m payout while Hill's reckoned the set of results were one of the worst ever. Backers helped themselves to bigger odds than usual with Ladbrokes taking one bet of £16,000 at evens on Aston Villa beating Newcastle, while extrabet.com accommodated a £10,000 bet at 1-2 that Alan Shearer's side would be relegated.

Elsewhere, punters are finally starting to believe in Jenson Button. Ladbrokes saw a £3,000 bet at 6-4 while extrabet.com took two £5,000 wagers at the same price for the Brawn GP driver to win in Monaco.

(Source: Guardian.co.uk)