A Faversham football fan has become the first person to place a bet from space.

On Saturday Dean Saunders beamed his bet down to earth from a balloon floating 100,000ft up in the air for a chance to win £1million.

Unfortunately the Liverpool supporter’s accumulator choices did not make him a millionaire, but bookmakers Paddy Power gave him a consolation prize of £5,000.

Mr Saunders was chosen to place the bet after winning an online competition to mark the bookie reaching one million “likes” on its Facebook page.

He travelled to Paddy Power’s Space Agency Headquarters in Cambridgeshire to place the bet before Saturday’s Premier League matches.

Paddy Power spokesman Féilim Mac An Iomaire said: “We have bets placed in lecture halls, on the toilet and at weddings every day so what better way to celebrate reaching one million Facebook fans than to give a loyal customer like Dean the chance to become a millionaire by betting from the final frontier?

“A helium-filled balloon was launched into near space carrying a payload of a Raspberry Pi, a low tech computer, modified GPS unit, altitude sensor and a small radio transmitter.

“When the payload reached a height of 100,000 feet (30km) above Earth, the radio transmitter sent a trigger signal down to a ground station.

“The trigger signal placed Dean’s bet using a web link to Paddy Power’s secure web servers.”