Betfred online casino and betting site is claiming that a computer glitch caused a gambler from Lincolnshire, UK to believe that he was the winner of a GBP 1.7 million slot jackpot. 52 year old Andrew Green was told that he had hit the jackpot on Frankie Dettori’s Lucky 7 slot game while playing at Betfred in January.
He received a call from Betfred, congratulating him on his win, and went out to celebrate with friends and family, treating them to a full meal at his local pub and spending over GBP 2,500.
However, a few days later, Green received a call from Betfred, informing him that a “software malfunction” had caused the error message and, in fact, he was not a millionaire as he originally thought.
“I went absolutely crazy,” said Green. “It felt like I had been kicked and my insides ripped out.”
Betfred offered to settle in a non-disclosure deal for GBP 60,000, but Green declined the offer. Instead, he decided to sue the online gambling site and the case opened in the UK High Court this week.
An angry Green lamented: “I’m just a fish in a big sea and they are a great big shark, but I’m not going to be forced away just because they are worth billions and I’m not.”
“Even if there was a glitch, I did nothing wrong. I played that game and pressed a button.”
Betfred has not provided evidence of the computer glitch. In a comment, the group said: “Betfred loves to pay out all our jackpot winners – both big and small.”
“Unfortunately, and as Mr Green is aware, a new game release… suffered a software malfunction in January this year and no legitimate jackpot win occurred.”