Bet365 and horse racing fan Megan McCann have the date set for their court battle over a dispute surrounding a £1 million payout.The court date is set for November 13th (2018), and although it isn’t a full hearing, it could give a better sense of the way the case, which has been ongoing for two years, is heading.
What happened?
The case revolves around four races that took place in 2016, when Ms McCann, who was studying in Northern Ireland at the time, wagered around £25,000 on 12 horses on the Bet365 website.The bet was a risky one, and the odds were enormous, but despite that, the £13 each-way Lucky 15 bet came in, and Ms McCann expected to be able to withdraw her £984,833 in winnings.However, Bet365 refused the payment, claiming that the money made to place the bet did not belong to Ms McCann, and therefore contravened the site’s terms and conditions when it comes to wagering on behalf of a third-party.Ms McCann chose to fight the case, with support from Andrew Montague, a respected expert on the legalities of gambling.
Correspondence
Mr Montague, who has been part of several similar cases, had correspondences with Bet365 obtained by The Telegraph, with extracts including:“Our client has reasonable grounds to suspect your client to be guilty of criminal offences including fraud by false representation; cheating or attempted cheating.”Going on to accuse the gambling operator of ambiguous terms and conditions that could lead to:“The husband who puts a bet on the winner of X-factor for his wife, or on the winner of the Grand National, would have those winnings robbed of him.”Bet365 intend to take away enough of the claim on the court date, but if Ms McCann’s claims are perceived to hold sufficient weight, there will likely be a full hearing on the matter.