Fred Done, whose Betfred bookie won the race for the Tote with a £265m bid, is continuing to resist paying five punters who placed bets showing profits of £823,000 with its Gibraltar-based online wing, Betfred.com.
It has declared the bets void – even though it has paid out on wagers placed by UK punters in its 840 betting shops.
Four of the five individuals are related to Mr Curley, 70, who has a long track record in stinging the bookies with gambles on horses trained at his small Newmarket yard.
Mr Done is refusing to pay after Mr Curley masterminded an ambitious gamble on four horses in May last year, linked in trebles and an accumulator. Agapanthus won at Brighton, Savaronola at Wolverhampton and Jeu De Roseau – racing after an absence of 742 days – came up the hill at Towcester.
Only the defeat of Sommersturm at Wolverhampton prevented a payout of £20m, Mr Curley maintains – the maximum winnings, given bookies' pay-out limits.
Ralph Topping, the William Hill chief executive, said the new owner of the Tote was setting a "poor example" – not least with Mr Done's stand of paying UK punters but not those who bet via Betfred.com.
Writing in his blog, Mr Topping said the case was "not reflecting well on some elements of the betting industry at the moment".
"Whatever the moral arguments about Curley's approach, the fact is these were legal bets and should be paid out. There was no cheating. The British Horseracing Authority has ruled horses ran according to official rating. There was no reason to disqualify the runners and so no reason not to pay out."
Mr Topping added: "The idea that a licensed bookmaker could consider treating high street and online UK customers differently isn't just a slippery slope, it's positively precipitous."
Betfred declined to comment. It is said to be awaiting the findings of an inquiry by Gibraltar's betting regulator.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment