Punter suing online casino Betfred for refusing to pay out £1.7m jackpot

A player who believed he had won a £1.7m jackpot prize from Betfred online casino is suing this company after being told his win was a computer error. Andrew Green (what’s in a name), a 52 year old gambler from North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, spent thousands of pounds celebrating after his apparent success playing an online blackjack game. A few days later the online casino contacted Mr Green a “software malfunction” had occurred, his win was not legitimate, and he would not see a penny of his jackpot prize.

“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 already spent £2,500 with friends and family at the local pub to celebrate his big win. He even extended 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 played the “Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven” game well over six hours on the Betfred website before his luck finally turned and he won the £1.7m jackpot prize.

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.”

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. At Casinokings Club we find this suspicious to say the least. If Betfred would have prove of the software malfunction, they should share it with the unfortunate player. This again proves that players should be aware of what kind of casino they are playing. Betfred has been on our casino blacklist from day one, just saying….