Denied by Betfred Jackpot Win Payment of £1.7M Finally Paid

Andy Green, a 54-year-old online casino player from Lincolnshire, finally received his winnings from Betfred, following the decision in his favor from the High Court in London.

Happy Ending for the Lucky Winner

The ruling issued by High Court Judge Mrs Justice Foster put an end to the legal battle over a jackpot win of £1.7 million dating back to January 2018, when Andy Green got lucky while playing the Frankie Dettori Magic Seven Blackjack game on his mobile phone at bookmaker Betfred, as the gambling operator said it would not appeal against the decision.

According to Mrs Justice Foster’s ruling, when Andy Green contacted Betfred following the big winning, the operator “did not seek at this point to suggest other than he was a big winner”. Until a few days later when he was called by a Betfred director who noted the jackpot winning was due to a software error and the winning was denied.

Felt like being kicked and his insides ripped out, Andy Green, who had meanwhile extended his overdraft and spent more than £2,500 in celebrations with friends and family, challenged Betfred’s decision to deny his winning.

Green, who also refused to accept the £60,000 offered as a token of “goodwill” by Betfred on the grounds that he would lay the matter to rest for good, went to the High Court in April 2019, seeking £2 million from Betfred and Gibraltar-based parent company Petfre.

T&Cs Need to Be Transparent

In court, Betfred’s lawyer argued that according to the company’s terms and conditions that every customer agreed upon prior to playing, winnings can be declared void in cases of machine malfunctions, as was the case with Andy Green who was playing on a machine which had a software glitch and could not reset properly.

Siding with Andy Green’s lawyer who raised the issue of these clauses not being prominently displayed and instead “tucked away on page 13 of a long, repetitive and frankly tedious electronic document”, Mrs Justice Foster outlined the wording of these clauses was inadequate and “not transparent or fair and Betfred were not entitled to rely upon them”.

Following the High Court ruling, Betfred accepted the decision and would not pursue the matter further and the £1.7 million jackpot was duly paid to the lucky winner.

“Mr Green won the jackpot three times whilst playing a game provided by one of our third-party suppliers. The supplier reported a software problem to us and advised that we should withhold payment. However, we will abide by the court’s decision and not appeal. We would like to apologise to Mr Green for the delay in receiving his money.”

Spokesperson, Betfred