BetMGM Pays Teacher His $214K After Cancelling Bet

A Fairfax County, Virginia Special Ed teacher has finally been paid in full by BetMGM after the company cancelled a series of wining parlay bets amounting to $214,000.

Kris Benton told local CBS affiliate WUSA9 that the money was already placed in his app and ready to be withdrawn.   WUSA9 was the first to report on Benton's plight and the popular morning drive show Elliot in the Morning covered the story locally in the Washington, DC area.

This past Wednesday, Gambling911.com published an inteview with Benton, who told our own Thomas Somach he placed three same game parlay bets on a Women's World Cup matchup between the Netherlands and Vietnam for a total of $3000.  The win turned into $214,000.  BetMGM accepted the bets, graded them as winners, then cancelled all three claiming "an obvious error", an "obvious error" that took eight hours to catch.  BetMGM never offered an explanation as to what the "real" odds should have been.

Thousands of gamblers across social media quickly spread the word, among them the Founder of BookIt Sports, Trent Attyah.  His twitter page has more than 185.7K Followers.

You think he’s gunna get paid out or no chance? https://t.co/wnB0ZHhh1m

— Trent Attyah (@BookitWithTrent) August 18, 2023

On Friday, Benton told the local CBS affiliate he received a call from an attorney at BetMGM apologizing for the inconvenience and reiterating that there was "an error with the odds." That being said, the attorney said they're going to give Benton the entire amount he won.

"My family and I are thrilled that BetMGM is holding themselves accountable and is paying out my bets in full. This is a life-changing moment for us and we want to sincerely thank the team at WUSA9 for being the first ones to share my story," Benton told WUSA9.

"Definitely going to pay off my wife’s student loans and start a college fund for our daughter. After that, spend it on moments with the people we love," he added.

Benton was already consulting with an attorney on the matter.  Last week, Gambling911.com reached out to the Virginia Lottery, who act as the regulatory body over sportsbooks in the commonwealth.  They were unaware of the controversy at the time.  In recent days, The Lottery assured Gambling911 they were in correspondence with all parties in this matter after receiving a formal complaint from Benton but could not discuss ongoing investigations any further. 

BetMGM has not commented on this matter.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher