Gambling 911 World Exclusive: Teacher Stiffed by Sportsbook Hires Lawyer to Recover $215K
A math teacher from Virginia who was stiffed out of nearly $215,000 by sportsbook BetMGM has lawyered up, Gambling 911 can reveal in a world exclusive report!
Kris Benton, 35, a special education mathematics teacher at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia, won the money earlier this month betting on a women’s World Cup soccer match.
He made three separate parlay bets on the Netherlands vs. Vietnam contest—wagers of $750, $1000 and $1500– at high odds and won all three parlays for a total windfall of $214,500.
BetMGM graded the wagers as wins and put the funds in Benton‘s account.
But when he tried to withdraw some of the winnings, the sportsbook balked, telling the teacher that the odds he wagered on with his bets had been incorrectly posted and therefore all his bets had been voided.
The book returned his initial wagers and gave him a free $100 bet for the inconvenience.
But now, in an exclusive interview on Tuesday night, Benton tells Gambling 911: “I got a lawyer!”
The teacher, who also doubles as the boys varsity soccer coach at his school, also revealed that he has filed an official formal complaint with the Virginia Lottery, the governmental agency that oversees and regulates all forms of gambling in the State of Virginia.
So far the agency has not made a ruling on the matter.
Benton said that after he appeared on a Washington, D.C. radio show last week to talk about the controversy, he was contacted by an attorney.
“A prominent attorney in the Washington, D.C. area heard the show and reached out to me afterwards,” Benton said.
“We had a conversation on the phone and I will be meeting with him in person later this week.
“The attorney was very optimistic that he would be able to recover my winnings for me.
“And after speaking with him, I am now very optimistic that I will get my money.”
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After Benton contacted BetMGM to ask why he wasn’t getting paid, the sportsbook emailed him an explanation.
The book explained that when a bet is made at obviously wrong odds, the book will usually just correct the odds and pay off winning bets at those odds.
But, BetMGM said, it was unable to determine what those odds should’ve been, thus the voiding.
Benton showed Gambling 911 the email, which read, in part: “BetMGM deserves the right to either settle winning wagers at the correct price, as reasonably determined by BetMGM, or void any wagers placed in obvious error.
“Obvious errors include but are not limited to the following: wagers offered or placed at odds being clearly incorrect given the probability of the event occurring or not occurring at the time the wager was placed... in your case for the event Netherlands vs. Vietnam 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. Therefore we are not able to find out what the correct odds would’ve been. That’s why the wagers were voided.”
— gambling911 (@gambling911) August 16, 2023
Listen to "EITM: The Ding Of Sportsbooks' Error 8/8/23" by DC101 (WWDC-FM) via #spreaker https://t.co/SKBZ10k1DR
— gambling911 (@gambling911) August 16, 2023
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By Tom Somach
Gambling 911 Chief Correspondent
tsomach@aol.com
