A UK punter finally collected his £1.7 million jackpot at Betfred following a three-year legal battle. The casino refused to acknowledge the win citing a software glitch, leading to a lawsuit. The High Court ruling arrived in the punter’s favour as the judge said the company had no grounds for withholding payments.
According to the latest reports, Andy Green, a resident of Lincolnshire, won the grand prize back in January 2018 while playing blackjack on Betfred. Andy said that he went ‘absolutely crazy’ after winning the jackpot on Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven and extended his overdraft before spending over £2,500 celebrating the win with a group of friends and family.
Troubling News
Green said he was dejected after a few days after learning that Betfred had refused to honour its end of the deal. The operator claimed such high figures meant that the game had malfunctioned. And a representative of the Warrington-headquartered company reached out to Andy, claiming there had been “a software error” and the game hadn’t been resettled, invalidating his win.
Andy said he immediately wanted to fight the decision as it left him agitated and as if “his internals had been ripped out”. Sensing his determination and to avoid controversies, Betfred promptly offered a £60,000 consolation payment so long as Green “would never speak about the incident again”.
Green refused the offer and filed a lawsuit in April 2019 against Betfred and its parent firm, Gibraltar-based Petfre Limited, seeking £2 million as compensation, which included the prize amount and accrued interest. In response, the operator continued to maintain that a technical glitch invalidated the results, and the details were explicitly mentioned under the website’s “terms of use”.
“I’ve gone through a rough patch along with my family. My physical and psychological health suffered due to the ordeal. And I sometimes wished that I had never hit the jackpot because it made life miserable”, Andy claimed in one of his statements.
The Outcome
High Court judge Alison Foster threw Betfred’s argument out of court and directed the operator to fulfil its obligations. Betfred needs to pay the jackpot plus interest. The judge stated that the defendant initially did not suggest anything other than Green being a big winner, and it wasn’t entitled to depend on “inadequate” language in its terms and conditions.
Justice Foster said, “When Betfred contacted Mr Green after his win in 2018, they did not suggest anything except that he was a big winner. But a Betfred Director reached out a few days later claiming the firm was rejecting his claim due to a software error”.
“I feel like the world has been lifted off my shoulders, and I feel incredibly relieved and happy. This is a huge win for me, my family, and the legal team. The champagne can finally come out of the bucket”, Andy added.
Betfred apologized for the delay in paying out and stated it would not contest the ruling. A Betfred spokesperson said, “Mr. Green won the jackpot thrice while playing a game supplied by one of our third-party associates. The supplier got in touch with us and advised that we withhold payment as there had been a software glitch”.
“We will honour the court’s ruling and will not appeal against the decision. We would also like to apologize to Mr Green for the payout delay and any grievances caused on our part”, Betfred added.
Andy Green’s lawyer Peter Coyle stated his excitement at the outcome and claimed that the ruling will give hope to others who think that the rich guys always win.