Terms and conditions shrink R4.8-million win to R1-million

Always read the fine print carefully. Darren Ward did not when he placed online horse racing bets and expected to gallop into the sunset with millions of rand after hitting the jackpot.

Lady luck was on his side when he placed several bets in October 2014. He correctly chose eight winning horses in eight different races run at two different venues on the same day. His betting slip reflected a “total possible payment” of R4.8-million.

But unknown to him at the time‚ there were terms and conditions applicable to Sportingbet‚ an online sports betting site‚ that effectively restricted punters to winning R1-million.

Sportingbet maintained that they weren’t liable to pay the balance of the money‚ when he took them to court to obtain the full amount‚ as their terms and the conditions clearly stipulated that a single winner could only pocket R1-million in a single day.

Cape Town High Court Judge Siraj Desai ruled on Monday that when Ward had opened an online betting account he had to tick the standard terms and the conditions before placing bets.

One of these read‚ “The maximum amount that can be won by one customer in one day's betting‚ regardless of stake‚ is R1 000 000.00 or its equivalent in an accepted currency.”

Desai said that by placing an electronic tick next to the appropriate box‚ Ward accepted and agreed with the terms and conditions.

“He says he did not read the terms. However‚ he does not dispute that the words ‘please note limits may be applicable on your winnings’ were displayed on the bottom of the betting slip‚” said the judge.

Desai added that since Ward opened his account with Sportingbet‚ he had placed at least 530 bets on the website and each time he had the opportunity to go through the payment terms but he had failed to do so.

“It appears that once a bet is placed by the punter‚ the computer software then applies the odds‚ automatically calculating the potential payout‚ but directly below the amount stated‚ the warning appears that limits are applicable on winnings‚” said Desai.