Representatives from Bezbets Betting Company appeared in court on Thursday facing fraud charges after they allegedly refused to pay a punter who had won a bet. The punter claimed to have placed a bet on Roulette and won US$5400, but the company only offered to pay US$1800. The court postponed the case to December 8 for a possible trial, NewsDay reported.
Some Context:
Bezbets Betting Company allegedly refused to pay the punter who had won $5,400 and blocked his account to hide evidence. The punter claims that he has been placing bets since 2022. After the disagreement, Bezbets deleted his account. The punter reported the incident to the police and through his lawyer Mr Tawanda Takaindisa sent a letter of demand to Bezbets to release the money within 24 hours The Herald reported. Read the letter:
Our client informs us that he won USD$5 400.00 on October 26, 2023. 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 blocked the punter’s account, he had taken over 80 screenshots of his betting transactions with the company as evidence. The punter claimed that Bezbets was not paying him his winnings and demanded a refund of all the money he had bet that exceeded $50. He said:
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.
According to Bezbets’ terms, the minimum stake per transaction is set at $2,000, and there is no mention of United States dollar stakes. Bezbets has a payout limit of $15,000 for a single bet.
With the collapse of industries in Zimbabwe, many people have turned to betting as a way to earn income. Some lucky individuals win, but many end up losing money. They place bets on football matches, predicting the winning team, number of goals, goal scorers, corner kicks, and other statistics. The odds of winning are generally low. People also bet on animal races.