The billionaire owner of Newcastle United Football Club has added to his personal fortune by winning £1.3 million on a single spin of a roulette wheel at the exclusive Fifty London casino in Mayfair.

Mike Ashley gambled £480,000 on black 17, which is his lucky number as he wears a Newcastle shirt with the number 17 on it while watching the Tyneside club’s games.  It is also the number used by James Bond on roulette wheels and came up trumps for the Newcastle owner.

Mr Ashley actually placed a complex bet known as a “complete” which included every combination with the number 17.  He bet on the number itself, on the ball falling on black, on the ball falling on an odd number and also on the ball falling on a number between 1 and 18.

The number 17 is one of the most popular bets in the game of roulette as it is in the centre of the table.

The high-roller departed from the table nearly 1 million pounds to the good after only 15 minutes at the table.

An observer told the Daily Mail that, “Mike’s a regular at the casino.  He’d come along with a group of male friends and placed what’s known as a complete bet on 17.

“His chips surrounded the number in every possible combination, and when he won the crowd went wild and clapped and cheered.”

Mr Ashley is a member of the Fifty London casino, for which he has to pay £650 per year in annual membership.

He was raised in a modest bungalow in Buckinghamshire and, despite leaving school at 16, he managed to open a chain of ski and sports shops.  His success meant that by the late nineties he ran over 100 shops up and down the country.

He has lost £129 million in the past year on spread bets, as he believed shares in the bank HBOS would increase at the beginning of 2008. 

Unfortunately for Mr Ashley, the bank has been affected by the credit crunch and has seen its share prices plunge as a result.

The publicity-shy tycoon did, however, make £929 million last year when he floated his Sports Direct retail chain.

Also last year he bought Newcastle United for £135 million. In the recent Sunday Times Rich List he was placed at number 54.

His list of businesses also includes the sports brands Donnay, Dunlop Slazenger, Kangol and Lonsdale.

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