FELICIA ITEJI
Online sports betting platform, SportyBet, has been accused of withholding payment of some of its customers’ winnings totaling N960,550,000 (nine hundred and sixty million, five hundred and fifty thousand naira), and deactivated their accounts without explanation.
The development has led the 114 SportyBet customers to seek the legal services of a Lagos-based lawyer, Kunle Bamidele of Prolex Solicitors, to file petitions with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Special Fraud Unit; Police Force Intelligence and Investigation Department; Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) and others.
Speaking with the press on the behalf of the affected 114 customers of the betting company, Bamidele Said his client are taking a strong action in response to the company’s claims of fraudulent activity as to why they were refused payment of their winnings totaling over N960,550,000 and restricted access their accounts.
Asked if the legal representative of the aggrieved customers have exchanged correspondence with SportyBet over the issue, Bamidele said the company has been contacted but they are not forthcoming with reasonable responses.
“Yes, I can tell you that, unhappy with SportyBet’s explanation for withholding winnings, the group of affected customers have mandated our law firm to file petitions with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU), the Force Intelligence and Investigation Department (FIID), the National Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC).
“Recall that SportyBet previously attempted to justify their actions by alleging the customers used ‘bot technology’ and ‘illegal automated bets.’ However, independent information technology experts have debunked these claims, raising questions about the legitimacy of SportyBet’s defense. Could it be that the operators of SportyBet are engaged in money laundering because from our investigations, they are not even Nigerians”, he said.
“The actions of SportyBet suggest the customers may have been unfairly denied their winnings.
“By seeking intervention from relevant authorities, the customers hope for a thorough investigation and a fair resolution,” he said.
The legal representative noted that the involvement of the EFCC and the Police Special Fraud Unit highlights the seriousness of the situation.
According to him, “These organizations specialise in tackling financial crimes and fraud. Their involvement suggests a deeper look into SportyBet’s practices may be necessary.
“We are also alerting the INTERPOL to be on the watch out. Nigeria is a country that frowns at maltreatment of its citizens and financial crimes are very serious offense that must be stopped.”
Debunking the possibility of access of third party into the accounts of his clients, Bamidele said: “It is impossible for anyone to create odds on their platform without having the password or access to the backend. Unless the operator is claiming collusion with members of its own team, it’s just a very unlikely event and in fact– it is impossible since the Sportybet employees themselves don’t even have access to the odds as they come from big international suppliers through API connections and any attempt to alter that would have logs that would show any infringement.”
“Honestly, I can’t imagine how any syndicate could do that in general. The odds are being provided by huge international sportsbook providers, most of them have people monitoring the security and fixed games round the clock. But even then the people don’t have any influence on what’s coming from the provider, so it’s impossible for anyone to feed “fake odds” into the system and even attempting that wouldn’t help much in my opinion.”
“I think the possibility of an external entity creating fake odds in the sportybet platform is very very low. Very low.”
Meanwhile, the online betting company had said it is collaborating with ‘regulators and law enforcement agencies as well as increased its investment in technology to tackle cyberattacks’ in the gaming industry.
Recently, SportyBet reportedly said that it took those steps following claims of ‘unpaid winnings’.
