A man who believed he had won a £1.7m jackpot prize from Betfred is suing the company after being told his win was a computer error.
Andrew Green, 52, a gambler from North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, spent thousands of pounds celebrating after his apparent success playing an online blackjack game.
A few days later Betfred told Mr Green a “software malfunction” had occurred, his win was not legitimate, and he would be receiving no money.
“I went absolutely crazy,” the Lincolnshire man told the BBC about the devastating phone call from the betting firm.
“It felt like I had been kicked and had my insides ripped out.”
Mr Green said he had spent £2,500 revelling in his triumph with friends and family at the local pub, even extending his bank overdraft in the expectation he would soon be a millionaire.
He reportedly declined a £60,000 non-disclosure settlement from Betfred after the glitch was revealed, and decided to take his case to court instead.
“I’ve been bullied,” claimed Mr Green. “I’m just a fish in a big sea and they are a great big shark but I’m not going to be forced away just because they are worth billions and I’m not.
“Even if there was a glitch I did nothing wrong. I played that game and pressed a button.”
The gambler said he spent six hours playing “Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven” on the Betfred website before the game told him he had won the £1.7m jackpot prize.
Mr Green’s solicitor Peter Coyle claims Betfred has refused to provide any verification of the problem with its software.
No evidence was offered at a preliminary hearing held in the High Court earlier this week.
A spokesman for Betfred told The Independent: “Betfred loves to pay out all our jackpot winners, both big and small.
“Unfortunately, and as Mr Green is aware, a new game release by Playtech, a leading game supplier of ours, suffered a software malfunction in January this year and no legitimate jackpot win occurred.
“Given that Mr Green is currently exploring his legal options, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.” ___
Anyone know what the likely outcome of this is, can't remember when someone won so big with a 'software error' being used as the excuse before. Bit different from the usual 'palpable error' story. Wonder if they can get away with this, hope he gets something bigger than 60k.
From what i can make out, the "software error glitch" is a first, after all, baldy has used the last 20 odd years using every other excuse in the book not to honor paying out...
From what i can make out, the "software error glitch" is a first, after all, baldy has used the last 20 odd years using every other excuse in the book not to honor paying out...
They are going to have to prove this 'software glitch' in court, if they can't they're in big trouble, not just the payout and court costs but on charges of fraud!
If they can prove it then that in itself makes it sounds like it was programmed for nobody to win!
So it seems to me that b3tfred are screwed either way ? and this could open up a can of worms if their other products are investigated only to find nobody ever stood a chance of winning anything remotely big, other than once a year allowing big winner for 'promotional purposes'.
They are going to have to prove this 'software glitch' in court, if they can't they're in big trouble, not just the payout and court costs but on charges of fraud!If they can prove it then that in itself makes it sounds like it was programmed for nob
A spokesman for Betfred told The Independent: “Betfred loves to pay out all our jackpot winners, both big and small.
They do? That's funny, because they banned me and I never came close to winning any kind of jackpot. As they do with thousands of other punters. Hoepfully Mr Green takes these shysters to the cleaners
A spokesman for Betfred told The Independent: “Betfred loves to pay out all our jackpot winners, both big and small.They do? That's funny, because they banned me and I never came close to winning any kind of jackpot. As they do with thousands of ot
All this does is confirm what slot jockeys think as they click their way through thousands of pounds at £10 a pop - "These things are fixed!" - won't stop them playing though.
All this does is confirm what slot jockeys think as they click their way through thousands of pounds at £10 a pop - "These things are fixed!" - won't stop them playing though.
when that horse won in ireland and crossed line with thousands still available to back in double figure odds, and the exchange company voided the race, i dont think legal action got anybody any result.
its just another step down the road to not trusting online anything
good point morp, ...hope they refund all players who played during the period the glitch existed, if it did exist.
when that horse won in ireland and crossed line with thousands still available to back in doublefigure odds, and the exchange company voided the race, i dont think legal action got anybodyany result.its just another step down the road to not trusting
Looks to me like Mr Forrest is caught in the middle of a liability battle between Baldie and the the game developer. From The Mirror :
Peter Coyle, Andrew's solicitor, claims the company has refused repeated requests to provide evidence of the computer problem.
A preliminary High Court hearing was told this week that the company did not have the game data and could not force the game developer to hand it over.
I have no idea how these games work, but after reading this, they may go down the route of 'the punter should have known there was a problem as he just kept winning and winning which is not what gambling is about your honor'
Andrew, of Washingborough, Lincolnshire, started playing Frankie Dettori's Magic Seven with a £100 stake in January.
He lost almost all of his money to the online game but worked his way up from £3 to £600,000.
One final play then landed him the £1.7 million jackpot.
Anyone know how this Frankie Dettori's Magic Seven malarkey works?
Looks to me like Mr Forrest is caught in the middle of a liability battle between Baldie and the the game developer. From The Mirror : Peter Coyle, Andrew's solicitor, claims the company has refused repeated requests to provide evidence of the comput
As has been mentioned even if there was a "software glitch" Baldfred have been taking money from punters in a game they can't win. The offer of £60k speaks volumes. Hopefully very costly for the cheating ****.
As has been mentioned even if there was a "software glitch" Baldfred have been taking money from punters in a game they can't win. The offer of £60k speaks volumes. Hopefully very costly for the cheating ****.