Betting shop refuses to pay out on footy wager

Jun 29 2008 by Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

A BETTING shop is refusing to pay out on a winning wager taken in error by a cashier.

Punter Kim Gulliver expected £100 after getting odds on a football team to be promoted.

But Betfred said their cashier should not have accepted the bet.

And the gaffe turned Kim from a winner into a loser.

Kim, of Barnard Castle, County Durham, put £10 on Exeter to be promoted from the Blue Square Conference League.

The odds were 9-1 and the slip was written out by a cashier.

Exeter were promoted . . . but there was a hitch. Kim said: “I went to collect my winnings and the manager said an error had been made on their part.

“It seems, if an employee of Betfred makes a mistake, it is the customer who has to pay.

“The woman who wrote out the slip accepted the bet. I am really miffed about this because I followed the team all season and was chuffed to bits when it came up.”

Betfred — whose slogan is “The Bonus King” — said they should never have taken Kim’s bet on Exeter to be promoted.

Spokesman Dave Metcalf said the odds were supposed to be on Exeter winning their league outright.

He said: “At the time we did not offer odds on Exeter to be promoted. The bet has been taken in error. In normal situations when human error is concerned, the bet is void and the customer gets their money back.

“In this case, we have offered a quarter of the winnings Mrs Gulliver would have received if the bet was valid.”

He said it was a goodwill gesture with the amount based on four teams getting promotion.

Kim said she was not impressed.

She said: “I can’t believe a huge company like Betfred does not honour what was written on a betting slip by one of their employees.”