It’s been a long time coming
Andrew Green can finally celebrate. The 54-year-old from Lincolnshire, England won a life-changing £1.7 million ($2.3 million) jackpot on internet gambling site Betfred in 2018, but since then, he has been unable to collect his money. Now he can.
Green took Betfred to high court and on Wednesday, he finally won his case. The exact amount Betfred will hand over is £1,722,923.54 ($2,369,924.40) plus interest.
Said Mrs Justice Foster in her ruling: “I am of the clear view that these clauses in the terms and conditions are inadequate to exempt Betfred from the obligation to pay out on an ostensibly winning bet or series of bets.”
Betfred told him he won…until it didn’t
As we reported last October, Green played “Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven Blackjack” on the Betfred mobile app, winning his massive jackpot on odds of 7,777/1 during a six-hour session. For the better part of a week, representatives from the gaming site congratulated him, but all of a sudden, Betfred said it would not pay up, citing a malfunction in the game.
Green spent £2,500 ($3,439) celebrating, an amount that Betfred offered to reimburse him plus another £60,000 ($82,532), but Green refused to accept it, especially because the latter sum required him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
His attorney, Peter Coyle, said the offer was an insult, adding, “If it was a more reasonable figure that properly reflected the risk to Andy of litigating but also the fact he’s in good faith won that money, then we’d do a deal.”
Green took Betfred to court in November 2018 in an effort to get the company to actually show him what the glitch was. Betfred passed the buck, however, saying it was software developer Playtech that held the evidence, but Playtech wouldn’t share it for confidentiality reasons.
Green had to wait until October of last year for another hearing, at which point Foster sided with Green, but withheld official judgment until now.
Betfred is ending its fight
In a statement, Green said, “The last three years have felt like hell on earth. I think Betfred have treated me abysmally, but it’s not about Betfred today – I’m just ecstatic to have eventually won my case.”
He added that sometimes he wished he never won because his life has been miserable dealing with the stress. Green has had four heart attacks in his life, one since his jackpot.
In its defense, Betfred said that Green agreed to the terms and conditions of the site when signing up, once of which that all “pays and plays” would be voided in the event of a “malfunction.” The trouble for Betfred was that it never proved a malfunction occurred and it didn’t withhold winnings from other players who would have been affected by the glitch.
Betfred still claims that Playtech reported the software issue to them and it was Playtech that decided payment should be withheld. That said, Betfred will not appeal and has apologized to Green taking so long to pay him.