October 9, 2020 4 min read

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Case Citing £1.7m Betfred Jackpot Is Now Awaiting High Court Decision

Andrew Green, a now 53 old gamblers from the United Kingdom, is going to High Court next week to try and settle a £1.7-million voided jackpot case against Betfred.

The £1.7m Betfred Lawsuit Awaits High Court Decision

Two years ago, British gambler Andrew Green, 53, problems with established gaming giant Betfred began. Mr. Green is now going to try and solve the case in High Court as early as next week.

In a lawsuit, Mr. Green claimed that he won the funds fairly, and that, a reported Betfred’s technical error was a matter between the company and their software provider. He won £1.7 million playing blackjack in January 2018.

When Mr. Green won, Betfred paid respects, informing him that he had become a millionaire. The company continued to shower him with congratulatory messages and offered financial advice.

Before long, Mr. Green had begun to feel like an actual millionaire, reassured by Betfred and the amount won in blackjack. It was all going well until Betfred had discovered a software malfunction that occurred on an external software provider, and had to void his winnings.

Mr. Green, however, argued that there was no actual evidence of the software glitch, and specifically that he had not experienced any issue with his session. He had this to say cited by The Daily Mail:

“They have no reason not to pay me in my opinion. If there was a glitch, that’s between Betfred and the software provider.”

Mr. Green explained that he had felt like a millionaire as the company kept sending financial advice on how to manage his funds. Five days after the win, however, Mr. Green was approached with Betfred informing him about the glitch.

He was reportedly offered a £60,000, The Daily Mail and The Mirror reported and a non-disclosure agreement. He turned it down, explaining that before the call he had even called Betfred to confirm his win over the phone.

Mr. Green, a single parent who has been through four heart attacks, said that he was hoping that his life would change for the better following the announcement. He even spent £2,500, on celebrating the success with friends, and extending his bank overdraft in anticipation of the prize amount.

Mr. Green blamed the company for a lot of his misfortunes ever since that call. He had hoped that with the money from the win, he would have been able to buy a holiday for his late sister. He argued that the litigation has brought him stress, anxiety, and upset so far and that the entire ordeal has been horrendous.

According to Mr. Green’s lawyers, the case is pivotal for Betfred as a company as well. It would be the first time Betfred’s terms and conditions are undergoing this amount of scrutiny, putting the company in an interesting position.

Betfred Has a Case, Say Mr. Green’s Lawyers

Should Mr. Green turn out to be successful in High Court, though, Betfred will have to pay over £2 million, which includes interest and his legal expenditures. If he loses, he can still go to full trial and ask Betfred to prove the alleged technical malfunction.

His solicitor, Peter Coyle, acknowledged that the situation his client faces is difficult, because he has to “satisfy the judge that Betfred has no chance at all of defending its position at a full trial.”

Mr. Coyle also said that Betfred’s terms and conditions are complicated and amounted to stacks of documents. However, his client’s legal position is that the terms don’t allow Betfred to void payment even if the reported glitch happened on Playtech’s platform, and not Betfred’s own software.

Betfred has so far not commented much on the case, other than to inform that it would be inappropriate to make a statement as the case is still in progress. However, in a comment for The Independent, the company reassured that it loved paying out jackpots.

The company simply reminded that the error had occurred on Playtech’s platform and therefore Mr. Green’s win was not legitimate.

Lead Editor

Mike made his mark on the industry at a young age as a consultant to companies that would grow to become regulators. Now he dedicates his weekdays to his new project a the lead editor of GamblingNews.com, aiming to educate the masses on the latest developments in the gambling circuit.

13 Comments

  • George Baker
    October 16, 2020 at 5:05 pm

    Appears to me that Betfred must pay Mr Green ,and if it can be proved that the play tech software was at fault they must take them to court to recover the loss.

  • Peter
    October 16, 2020 at 5:58 pm

    I had the same with bet Fred back in April. I had a lottery bet which I should of got a payout of over £700 , on the Irish lottery. They said the money wasn’t in the account ,but the money was put in there from my bank on the same day before the bet was made. I kept emailing them and they kept saying in many words , I didn’t have the financial funding in there account when the Irish lottery win was made.

  • Brendan
    October 17, 2020 at 6:16 am

    I hope you get your money mate

  • Fred
    October 17, 2020 at 10:07 am

    He definitely won the jackpot if he had stopped at that point he would have been paid out, because he kept gambling and couldn’t loose he built his winnings up and the suspicion of a glitch indicated, it will be difficult to say when that happened he is definitely entitled to a generous win if not all of it .

  • Conway Badham
    October 24, 2020 at 11:06 am

    Bet Fred just pay the guy, the negative press you are getting will cost your more than £2mil.

    Turn this into a positive and pay up.

    Conway

  • Jim Kelly
    October 27, 2020 at 10:03 am

    This company has a poor track record. The UK Gambling Commission ordered it to pay out £322,000 for money laundering failures in October 2019. This followed the UKGC ordering them to pay out over £800,000 in 2016 in a regulatory settlement. Small beer for a company that turned over more than £10 BILLION last year. And they’re arguing the toss over a paltry £1.7m to one of their loyal customers. Ain’t gonna go down well if they win or lose this case but better for them to pay out to the guy.

  • Chappy harris
    October 28, 2020 at 8:00 am

    Shame on you Fred the problem is with software companies not this man pay him out you say you the bonus king not a king in my book shame on you

  • John.parks
    October 29, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Just goes to show I do not like losing typical bookmaker hope he gets seriously ******

  • Shell
    November 1, 2020 at 6:55 am

    I was truly disgusted when seeing this on the news if he owed them the money even if said glitch happened they’d soon make sure they got what they were owed… the man won fair and square pay up not like it’ll leave them broke 😡

  • k
    November 3, 2020 at 7:10 am

    poor man . hope he wins the case glitch or no glitch it not his fault. why offer him 60000 if they reckon there was a glitch doesn’t make sense.you wouldn’t offer anything if your saying there was a software glitch do betfred first mistake to answer is if this man didn’t win why offer 60000 pounds to him.

  • Matthew Payne
    November 4, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    Online casinos are a proper scam if you ask me, it’s like legalised theft and then when someone actually wins they won’t pay out which proves my previous point, disgraceful! It’s so easy for them to say something like that… it’s a software problem. I’m so pleased the guy in the case has the fortitude to take it to court because others would just take the 60K and forget about it and then big boys just get away with it. These large companies have made billions over the 20 years and they are moaning about 1.7 million. I rest my case.

  • Laurence King
    December 19, 2020 at 2:57 am

    I have not used BetFred since this case was highlighted. Bookmakers used to be known for their integrity to honour bets!
    Surely if they don’t pay this winner, then they should refund all losing bets.

  • Ian Wilson
    December 31, 2020 at 7:30 am

    These bookmakers are masters at bending rules to suit them selves and will legally do anything to make the punter believe it poor lad won the money there just looking for a way not to pay him I know Fred we had a glitch about then or maybe a software update at that time it happens all the time with in play betting where you carnt cash out due to soft ware issues yet these companies are legally ripping people off and getting away with it somthing needs doing about it how can in one instance a person have 3 out of four results in and there not offering a cash out with 25 mins play left in the game due to a software overall???? Shame on you it happens far too many times costing punters millions talk about moveing goal posts in running we are idiots for putting up with it. FRED DO THE RIGHT THING PAY THE MAN BEFORE THE CAN OF WORMS ARE FULLY OPEN

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