Betfair 10K bonus problems

[Caruso]

Betfair recently appears to have spectacularly ineptly offered a 10K bonus per customer in a recent happy hour promotion. After realising the magnitude of the implications, they appear to have gone on a smash and grab, revoking bonuses and winnings, and invoking an absurd rule about abusive playing styles which is the polar oppsite of the exact situation, which is a gargantuan mistake on their part.

Theres a thread at Baileys about it, to which I cannot post a link as this foreign computer is shyte.

Betfair could handle this reasonably painlessly. One option that comes to mind is a complete reset to pre happy hour balances, a grovelling apology, and a few judicious freebies tossed around to make up to players. This way noone would lose out, though the players would still be many thousand short of where they expected to be and doubtless unhappy.

Of course, Betfair being a casino, I suspct theyll handle it as they have to date, ie. as badly as possilbe.

In case anyone from Betfair is reading this, please try to take good advice on board.

[thepokerkeep]

Link:
http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ler-video.html

[davenewgates]

Well, BetFair is one of the known online casino in this industry. They should fix this problem immediately before it's too late. They should prove something to their clients.

[Caruso]

Too much to expect much response here, I suppose.

But take a look at this:

Dear (player),

We have now had the opportunity to review your account activity in relation to our recent ‘Happy Hour’ promotion, and we thank you for your patience during that time.

As a result of our investigation, and in light of our finding that you have acted in contravention of Betfair Casino’s Standard Terms and Conditions, we have debited your account with a sum equivalent to the bonus funds and winnings associated with the ‘Happy Hour’ promotion in which you participated. Your account has been re-activated and is now available for you to use.

As your Betfair account held insufficient funds to accommodate such a debit, your account will now show a negative balance. Please fund your account with the negative balance amount of -£xxx at the first opportunity. Failure to do so by 26 November 2010, may result in us taking the appropriate action to recover this sum from you.

Whilst we are aware that this was not the outcome you were hoping for, we do now consider this matter closed, and shall not enter into any further correspondence in connection with it.

Kind regards
Betfair Casino

Rather than simply acknowledging a mistake - as this promo must have been, seeing as I think it would be practically illegal for them to literally give away a casino owned by the shareholders, as this promo effectively did - they are blaming the players, and now threatening to take legal action against them for following their OWN terms on the back of their OWN mistake.

This is a first.

And Betfair is one of the biggest casinos in the business.

They could have EASILY handled this properly, to no cost to themselves, by doing a straight balance reset. They are now really pissing me off.

[graham]

That response (if legit) from Betfair was pretty shocking. It would be nice if someone chimed in from there about what is going on.

[brean78]

Oh dear, now they are being mocked in the hitler clip for this bonus **** up

[Caruso]

The video is silly and detracts from the issue, frankly.

[Caruso]

Looks like Betfair has been called to court on this matter:

http://www.thegamblingtimes.com/boar...r-court-3.html

Does Betfair recognise UK jurisdiction for the casino matter? Michael, do you know anything? You said at the LAC you'd been in contact.

Wierd as hell.

[baldidiot]

The link you gave goes to a private forum. Can you give the jist of it?

[Caruso]

Not private, but registration is required.

Basically, the player has a court date, in the UK, over his contested winnings. It's not clear whether Betfair will show up and defend themselves, or settle out of court.

If they contest it, they're sunk. Not a leg to stand on. My guess is they'll settle. That will then pave the way for all the other claimants to take legal action. So as I see it, Betfair is sunk either way on this matter.

[baldidiot]

I wonder how they're planning on handling it. Is it likely to lead to a class action?

[Caruso]

I'm entirely confused by everything. They were first saying "talk to the LGA", and with some justification, albeit immoral, as the casino is located in Malta. Now they appear to have accepted UK jurisdiction. Why?

If they were going to settle out of court, would they not have done so? They must be planning on contesting it, and they have no grounds. Or rather, no fair grounds, only "online casino" grounds, ie. the smoke, mirrors and bullshit of "irregular betting" and "bonus abuuse". If maybe THEY are so dumb as to believe they have a case, they lawyers surely cannot.

Class action: maybe, though a lot of these claims are big enough for the claimants to go it alone. But it'll never get to that.