Online Reporter
TWO years ago, one hundred and fifty nine gamblers in South Africa cashed a cool US$750,000 after taking advantage of a system glitch on an online betting platform in KwaZulu Natal.
Now, all of them have to find a way of paying every cent of the money they pocketed from those winnings.
A South African judge has ordered them to return the money they collectively won because the system glitch allowed them to gamble without risking a cent.
The gamblers placed their bets on a game owned by Hollywood sportsbook KwaZulu-Natal (Pvt) Ltd called ‘Betgames Instant Lucky 7’ in December 2023.
The game was created by a third party and resembled the national lottery. However, the draws occurred every 30 seconds.
When the punters realised that there was a fault in the game on the online gambling platform, Hollywoodbets, which did not deduct money while they placed their bets, they took advantage of it.
The game ran for just a week during Christmas week, 2023 before it was pulled when the operator’s system flagged unusually high winnings.
Judge Robin George Mossop, in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, took a dim view of all this, saying he believed the gamblers “must have noticed the weakness in the impugned game, and they exploited it.”
The judge also noted that “a bet,” by definition, requires a stake and an element of risk, both of which were absent because of the glitch.
In other words, without these two factors, it’s not a valid bet.
The wagers placed through the faulty game were not valid. The respondents gambled without
paying, and thus, they are not entitled to keep the winnings,” said Mossop, in ordering the gamblers — and their banks — to return the money.
The company had a right to recover because its terms state that invalid bets must be refunded, he ruled. — IOL/ECR
