Bookmaker in the UK Declines to Pay Winner Due to “Clerical Error”

Robert Speechley, owner of S&D Bookmakers of Littleport, refused to pay Anne Jones, who was offered 600-1 for a GBP 2 bet on Germany to win the World Cup, when she went to collect her winnings after the end of the World Cup tournament.

This story immediately made it into the gambling news and both sides didn’t miss the opportunity to explain their version of the story.

The two sides in the conflict

Winner was refused to be paid her winnings by bookmaker who claims that there was a mistake made by the staff when the bet was placed

• Anne Jones was offered 600-1 for a GBP 2 bet on Germany to win the World Cup by S&D Bookmakers

• She won GBP 1,200, but hasn’t received anything yet

• The owner Speechley suggested an arbitration panel to deal with the case

Speechley admitted that the betting slip shows 600-1, but still claimed that the situation falls into the category of a palpable error. He said: “We’ve looked into it and she seems to have been quoted, wrongly, from the digital odds.One of my staff looked at the odds of .6000 and for some reason thought it was 600-1.”

He continued that he was ready to make a deal with the winner, but “her husband went berserk at me, called me everything.”

On the other hand Anne explained that she “feels cheated and angry” from the refusal to be paid what she has earned, after being offered odds of 600-1 for the German team to win the World Cup, when she placed the bet back in January.

It is interesting to be mentioned that when her husband Ron went to bet similarly in December 2013, the odds he was given were 11-2, which was the reason why she asked the staff to double check the odds, because she thought there was some sort of mistake.

Anne continued saying that the odds she was given were confirmed by the staff, after being checked in the computer system, so she paid GBP 2 hoping to win GBP 1,200 and also received a confirmation slip.

The unpleasant surprise

Naturally, when Germany won last Sunday, she was extremely happy to find out that her bet on sports in the UK was so successful and was ready to go collect her prize.

For her big surprise though, on Monday when she went to the bookie shop two managers were there and not only didn’t they pay her, but on the contrary, they accused her of trying to cheat and threatened to call the police.

Anne made an attempt to defend herself and insist on getting her winnings, but she got worried that her husband Ron, who has high blood pressure, would stress too much, therefore they left the shop.

She added: “We have never seen two managers in the shop before, I feel like they knew I would be coming in and they were waiting for me.I am just so angry, it’s not fair. I knew the odds seemed high so I got them to check again and they told me they were correct, they even wrote them out on the betting slip for me.”

Moreover: “It was just supposed to be a bit of fun, to make the football a bit more interesting. When the goal went in, I had people calling me up and congratulating me. I promised my grandchildren that I would buy them all something to celebrate.”

And: “I’m just so angry with them, I expect them to honor it. We retired and moved up here and we love it. We’re not here to rip anyone off.”

Different opinions

However, the bookmaker had a totally different opinion and not only refused to pay, but also offered Anne to go to an arbitration panel, which deals with such delicate situations.

Speechley said: “The true odds were probably then about 5-1. They have never been 600-1. It’s a bit of a sort of grey area but actually it’s obtaining money by deception.Suppose for example we had wrongly put down 10 million to and now owed her GBP 20 million – plainly it’s silly.”

Moreover: “It is unfortunate but these things do crop up. Mrs. Jones’ husband went berserk at and called me everything. I said to him he knew it was the wrong price and had he been more acceptable I would have given him something, probably GBP 50, as a goodwill gesture.”

He added that he “likes to keep everyone happy” and was ready to discuss the situation with Anne. But: “unfortunately when they came in I couldn’t get a word in, he was going to come over the counter and punch my lights out.”

The spokesman of the massive sportsbook Coral, which name appears on the betting slip, said: “S&D Bookmakers has no connection with Coral so the bet in question is not one of ours I’m afraid.”

Moreover: “Why Corals is written on the slip is one to ask S&D. However I would say Germany were priced around the 6/1 mark, so 600/1 was far too good to be true!”