Winnings: Bet9ja in N42.153m Mess

Popular betting company, Bet9ja, is battling credibility problem amid accusation of failing to pay over N42million won by three of their game players.

Newsmakersng learnt that on January 9, 2016, the players: Peter Ayomide, Sobamke Samuel, Akinwusi Funsho and Okunade Toluwalope staked games on the coupon/bet slips: B926APZAAQWAA-1143424 with N100; B918APZATPTTC-1143424 with N100; B90APZATRRST-98000 with N100; and B92A4ATCTQS-98000 with N200 respectively.

Investigations, however, revealed that the games were played at 17:19, 17:28, 17:44 and 17:45 respectively.

Each coupon eventually won the following amount of money:  B926APZAAQWAA-1143424 won N2, 193, 501. 94k; B918APZATPTTC-1143424 won N2, 193, 501. 94k; B90APZATRRST-98000 won N12, 588, 793. 72k; and B92A4ATCTQS-98000 won N25, 177, 587. 44k, putting the total amount won at N42, 153, 385. 04k.

The winnings were immediately announced on the data base of KC Gaming Networks, owners of Bet9ja.

But the joy of the winners was short-lived, following claims that Bet9ja fraudulently recalled the winnings it has announced on its database around 12 midnight and 1am of Sunday, January 10th, 2016.

All efforts by the players to actualise the winnings were allegedly rebuffed by the management of the betting company.

On Friday, January 22, 2016, the aggrieved players through their lawyers – Emawodia and Attorneys, Legal Practitioners and Arbitrators, wrote to the management of Bet9ja, explaining the staking of the game and winnings by the clients attaching all necessary documents proving their case and demands to the betting company.

The letter was signed by Barrister Kayode Oyemakinde.

It took the betting company almost a month to respond to the correspondence from the winning quartet’s lawyer.

The letter signed by Chuks Emele, Company Secretary and Legal Adviser stated that the winnings could not have been paid because the games on which the quartet of Peter, Sobanke, Akinwusi and Okunade placed their bets were played before the bets were placed.

Bet9ja says, “The game in which your clients placed a bet on the 9th of January, 2016 at about 17:19pm, 17:28pm, 17:44pm and 17:45pm had already been played earlier on that same day at about 16:00pm. The kind of bet placed by your Clients is called “Anytime scorer” which means first to score.

“Therefore, as at the time your clients placed their bet, they already knew the result (and) the names of first scorers.”

The betting company explained further that in view of this, the gaming quartet have contravened one of its cardinal rules under Clause 13 termed as “Palpable Errors” which means “whenever a bet has been erroneously accepted on a market which should have been suspended or removed such a bet is cancelled.

“You would agree with us that the bets placed by your clients on the particular game whose results are already known and EVEN IF WRONGLY ALLOWED TO BE PLACED ON OUR NETWORK IS A MISTAKE and therefore cannot be considered a winning bet and based on our Terms and Conditions particularly the paragraph “Palpable Errors” mentioned above, we are right in declining to pay for the bets,” Bet9ja further stated.

Doubting if Bet9ja could fully absolve itself from the controversy, lawyers have asked the firm to explain why the betting portal remains opened when the matches on which betting were placed had commenced.

“All over the world, betting portals are closed whenever the kick-off time is up,” the lawyers say. “Bet9ja admitted that it made a mistake by allowing the game to be played, so the question is whether the betting quartet should take responsibility for the betting company’s mistake.”

The protesters were not the only people who placed bets on the game at that particular time. Thousands of other people also placed bets on the matches at that particular period.

The question now is: Since Bet9ja has admitted mistake in allowing the bets to be placed, is the betting company refunding the betting to thousands who have placed bets on the matches?

As at 6pm on Friday, June 2nd, 2017, the winning coupons were still on the data base of Bet9ja, described as “bet correctly registered on Bet9ja database” though the winning money has been recalled.

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