Has a Bookmaker Voided Your Bet? What to Do About It

I’m sure that most of you have heard of the concept of the mug punter. That is the individual who places poorly-researched wagers at poor value odds. This type of bettor is a bookmaker’s dream and is unlikely to attract the attention that a consistent winner does. However, it sometimes seems as if the bookies are playing us ALL for fools.

If you go into the terms and conditions of a bookmaker’s website, you will surely come across a stipulation which states that the company has the power to void a bet for a variety of reasons. “Palpable error,” which is when a bet has been offered as obviously incorrect odds, is one reason. Matches being concluded early is another.

How often have you placed a winning bet only to discover that it has been voided for some bogus reason? Sure, we occasionally benefit from voided wagers when we lose, but that is seldom the case. In the vast majority of cases, a punter will get angry, perhaps call the bookmaker in question out on social media, but get nowhere near justice.

This is mainly because we assume that the bookmaker’s terms and conditions are ironclad. In reality, you can add whatever you want to T’s and C’s, but if they are unlawful, they can be challenged in the court of law.

Punters DO Have the Power

Gambling contracts were not always enforceable in the courts. That changed with Section 335 of the Gambling Act 2005. It states: “The fact that a contract relates to gambling shall not prevent its enforcement.” Of course, the Act does not prevent a bookmaker from reneging on the contract for reasons stated in its terms and conditions.

However, it doesn’t have to be the end of the story when a bookmaker voids your bet. Back in 2015, Julius Ndlovu saw that William Hill was offering outrageous odds of 2,000/1 on Roger Federer to defeat Tomas Berdych by a score of 6-3 in a specific set during their Rome Masters match. He was clearly thrilled when his £0.50 stake was transformed into a £1,000 windfall.

There was only one problem: William Hill weaselled out of the bet citing “palpable error.” It is astonishing that when punters make mistakes, they get punished, yet when online bookmakers do it, they are seemingly allowed to bend the rules to their will.

Imagine you bet £50 on a specific market only to realise that you had made a blunder. What do you think will happen when you contact the site’s customer service saying you should get your money back due to palpable error?

Julius was rightly incensed and pointed out that it is not a customer’s responsibility to check if the odds are correct. William Hill assumed that Julius would do nothing like most punters but grossly underestimated the student’s anger and resolve. Rather than vent online for a while and give up, Julius decided to take the bookmaker to court. Initially, William Hill offers two free £50 bets as “gestures of goodwill,” but Julius rightly refused.

He took the case all the way to court and not only did he win, but he was also awarded an extra £209 in costs on top of his winnings.

Personal Experience

I must confess, I used Julius’ case as an inspiration to recover money withheld from me by 10Bet after several winning bets were voided. The game in question was a friendly between Ranheim and Kolstad. The game kicked off, and markets were available for 21 minutes. The game vanished from in-play but I found out that Ranheim had won 6-1. In the end, my profit was over £600.

I was initially paid out in full then an hour later, I logged into my account and found that the money was taken away! 10Bet had voided all of my bets. Their reason: Because the game was 70-minutes long; two x 35-minute halves. If anything, this made it even harder for me to win the wagers!

After several fruitless conversations with customer service agents trained to provide parroted responses, I went on the attack. By the way, various agents continued to say more or less the same thing: The bet was settled correctly in accordance with the site’s terms and conditions. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have a case because in many instances you actually do.

I sought legal advice from my brother who is a corporate lawyer, and he advised me to take legal action. I informed 10Bet that I would be taking them to small claims court to recover the money. They responded by offering me a £50 free bet which I refused.

I was 100% committed to going to small claims court, but after sending a final email outlining what I would be claiming in the case, all winning bets were paid out like magic! My email contained the following:

• Full details of the bet including the half time and full-time scores.

• Information about how long the in-play markets were left open for.

• A query as to why my bets were paid out first before being voided.

• I outlined that the site did not inform punters as to the reduced length of the match even though it was in-play for ages.

• The amount of money owed.

What I didn’t do was rant on social media; it will achieve nothing and make you look bad if your case makes it to court. In my own case, 10Bet directed me to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), which is its approved ADR provider — the right place for the dispute to go, not a way of avoiding it.

The route for an unresolved dispute is the operator's own complaints procedure first, and then the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider that operator names — every British-licensed site has to tell you who that is. Using ADR does not cost you anything and does not sign away your legal rights: an ADR decision binds the operator if you accept it, and you remain free to reject it and pursue the matter yourself. The Gambling Commission regulates operators and acts on what complaints tell it about a licensee's conduct, but it does not adjudicate individual disputes about a single bet, so it is not the body that will get your stake back. Our page on alternative dispute resolution sets the process out.

When writing to the bookmaker, make sure you keep a record of when you complained, because the operator's complaints procedure has its own published timescale and the ADR route starts once that has run out or the operator has given its final answer. If it does not resolve, you take it to the ADR provider the operator names. The Gambling Commission's rule is that "If you are not satisfied with the result from the gambling business, after 8 weeks you can take your complaint to an ADR provider", and that an ADR provider "is a free, independent service". The Gambling Commission is worth telling as well, because complaints are how it learns what a licensee is doing — but it will not settle your bet. You will have to complete a Small Claims Court form if you take it to the courts and there are associated costs; but if you are owed hundreds of pounds, it is well worth the investment.

Final Thoughts on Voided Bets

To be fair, void bets are not an everyday occurrence and are often no more than a minor inconvenience. However, in the cases of myself and Julius, they became very big deals because of the amount of money involved. If you believe you have had bets wrongly voided, get in touch with the bookmaker.

They may claim palpable error or say a game’s duration was shorter/longer than originally stated. At this stage, it is up to you to decide how to proceed. If you are owed a significant sum of money, don’t go to social media and use profanity, and don’t abuse the customer service representative.

Instead, calmly and clearly state what you are owed, and try to remember as many details about the bet as possible. Tell the operator that if the matter is not resolved you will take it to its ADR provider — name the provider, because it has to publish who that is — and that you are prepared to go to the Small Claims Court. If they offer a £50 bet or another token sum as a “goodwill gesture,” refuse it and pledge to forge ahead.

You may be shocked at what happens next because believe it or not, a bookmaker’s terms and conditions are not set in stone. They can be challenged AND defeated. Good luck!