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Teachers don't make a whole lot of money. So when a Fairfax County, Virginia teacher won $214,000 in bets at BetMGM, as much as five times the normal teacher's salary for some, one can only imagine the excitement.
Kris Benton couldn't wait to request his payout. His three Women's World Cup wagers at 66-1 odds were all winners.
But BetMGM said "hold on a minute".
That company, considered the 2nd largest in the US regulated sports betting market, began to cancel the winnings due to an “obvious error with odds.”
After requesting the maximum amount allowed to withdraw at one time, $100,000, Benton received a message that the bets highlighted as "WON" were now showing as "CANCELLED".
Say what?
“This was going to be a life-changing moment for us, and then in an instant, it was all taken away without any notification whatsoever,” Benton told WUSA9. “I was completely devastated. My wife and I had already started discussing what we were going to do with the money.”
The teacher would then received another email from the company.
Maybe they realized they had erred and placed the money back in his account?
Well, not exactly.
“sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”
Once again, they insisted the bets were "obvious errors".
"There was an issue that caused the corners market to have inflated the odds, but they were not supposed to be offered at that price,” the email to Benton said. “Therefore, we are not able to find out what the correct odds would have been, that is why the wager was voided.”
“They said because of their mistake they can do whatever they wanted to do with my account balance and on top of that, the mistake they claimed happened, they can't back that up with any evidence,” he said.
When WUSA9 inquired about the incident, BetMGM PR Coordinator Nick Lovera simply pointed to the website's terms and conditions section.
BetMGM tried to make amends by offering what Benton referred to as a "worthless" $100 bonus bet.
"Would they have voided the wager and returned his stake if he were on the wrong side of this 'obvious error'?," asks long time gambling industry analyst and one of the individuals responsible for helping to get sports gambling legalized in the US, Joe Brennan, Jr. He added, "The paltry $100 bonus consolation is not a great look for their customer service."
Angry gamblers were taking to the X platform (formerly Twitter) to post their disgust at BetMGM.
tbsoul95 tweeted: "Pay the teacher his money ya dogs."
Kelly Thompson: "Pay that teacher his money you greedy pricks."
Steve Tomasin (Dynasty Santa) writes: "A teacher hitting 3 parlays seems like an underdog! Why'd you steal his money?"
One of the benefits of a regulated US sports betting market, supposedly, is that regulators can intervene in disputes.
It's too early to determine what will happen here.
The Virginia Lottery oversees sports betting in accordance with the laws of the State of Virginia.
Gambling911.com has reached out to The Virginia Lottery and await their response to this matter.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
