BetMGM Voids Four Winning Bets to a Chicago Player’s Dismay

A BetMGM user has accused the sportsbook of not honoring winning bets. While the company acknowledged that it had indeed terminated the bets in question, it insisted that this was necessary due to errors in the wagers.

A Chicago Man’s Bets Were Voided

CBS News, which broke the news, said that Chicago resident Mark Aiello had contacted it after making four $500 bets on the March 2 game between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers. Aiello’s prop bet reportedly had staggering 350/1 odds, implying that he had only a 0.28% chance to win.

Luckily for Aiello, all of the bets ended up being winning ones.  What he didn’t expect, however, was that all of them will be voided, effectively depriving him of thousands of dollars.

If the wagers were honored, Aiello would have been in for an unforgettable $389K payday. Instead, he ended up winning nothing.

I looked at my BetMGM app, and I noticed that it looked weird. Like all of the bets were grayed out.

Mark Aiello

Aiello and his family were expectedly upset with BetMGM’s decision to cancel the wagers. He felt discouraged and angry and is now warning others to be careful when betting.

The Bets Contained “Obvious Errors”

As it turns out, Aiello is not the only one to suffer the same fate. Two years ago, a player from Virginia named Kris Benton stumbled upon a Women’s World Cup soccer match bet with 66/1 odds. After wagering $3,000, Benton should have won over $214K, except he didn’t win anything.

However, BetMGM defended its decision to void the bets, emphasizing that in both players’ cases, the bets had incorrect or inflated odds. The sportsbook emphasized that it can legally cancel bets with obvious errors, per its house rules.

BetMGM reserves the right, at its own discretion, to declare a wager void, totally or partly, if a wager has been offered, placed, and/or accepted containing an Obvious Error.

BetMGM

While this house rule technically provides BetMGM with immunity, it also alienates some players, especially ones who feel that they have been cheated.

Benton’s Story Had a Happy Ending, at Least for the Player

While BetMGM’s house rules allow it to null wagers containing obvious errors, this didn’t stop Benton from issuing a legal challenge to the operator. The sportsbook eventually agreed to pay out the sum he would have won despite the error. The Virginia man promised to use the money to pay his wife’s student loans and fuel his daughter’s education.

As of the time of this writing, it is still uncertain whether Aiello would try to recover the winnings from his voided bets.