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Herald Correspondent
A betting company, Bezbets, has reportedly failed to pay a punter who placed a bet and won more than US$5 000 after blocking his account in a bid to destroy evidence.
Since last year, the complainant (name withheld) said he had been placing bets of more than US$50 and won some of the bets.
After a scuffle with the complainant, the betting company deleted his account.
The complainant then filed a report with the police under case number IR 101 683 and the matter is expected to appear in court this week.
The punter, through his lawyer Mr Tawanda Takaindisa, has written a letter of demand to Bezbets to release the money within 24 hours.
“Our client informs us that he won USD$5 400.00 on October 26, 2023,” said Mr Takaindisa. “On October 27, 2023, our client demanded the release of the money upon which you indicated that you could give him US$1 800.00, contrary to the amount won.
“This, therefore, serves as 24hrs notice to make the full payment of USD$5 400.00 to our client. Failure of which, we will be forced to take litigation against you. Your conduct is unprofessional and unethical as you have no legal basis to refuse to make the said payment.”
Before Bezbets thought of blocking the punter’s account, he had taken more than 80 screenshots of his betting transactions with the company as proof.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Bernard Zieve from the betting company were fruitless as he refused to talk to the media.
Bezbets general manager Mr Robson Chinamasa said the matter was before the courts.
“I have nothing to say because the case is now being handled by lawyers so we will start from there,” he said.
The complainant said Bezbets was failing to pay him his money and demanded that they should refund him all the money exceeding the US$50 bets he has been placing.
“I have been losing larger amounts of money to Bezbets while playing more than US$50 and they never raised that issue until when I won US$5 400,” he said.
According to the Bezbets terms, the minimum stake per transaction is pegged at $2 000 and it does not mention any United States dollar stakes.
On Bezbets payout limits, a single bet is US$15 000.
Online Reporter