Giant betting company Betika is embroiled in a legal battle with a gambler over more than half a million shillings.
Mr David Juma, a Nakuru-based gambler who won a Sh500,000 jackpot after placing a Sh10 bet on a Betika platform, has sued the company for refusing to pay his claim.
Juma and his brother Collins Kizito placed a Sh500,000 lottery bet on Betika’s 8-game Sababisha jackpot with Sh10 on 18 February.
The two studied the 8 games advertised by the betting company for prediction before placing a bet.
After placing the bet, the punter watched the matches closely to see what the outcome would be.
According to Mr Juma, all the predictions came true, and they waited to collect their prize money.
However, they were shocked when they logged on to the website and discovered that the company had mistakenly indicated that one match had not been correctly predicted.
They decided to contact the company to try and correct the error, but their efforts proved futile.
“Since then, it has been a game of cat and mouse as all attempts to contact Betika to correct the error and pay me my winnings have proved futile. My brother and I have made several calls to Betika and tried to reach them through social media but to no avail as there has been no response,” said Mr Juma.
The player lamented that he had spent time, money and energy analysing the games only to be betrayed by the company that had let him down.
In his case at the Nakuru Small Claims Court, Mr Juma sued Shop and Deliver Limited, the company trading as Betika.
In his evidence, he attached the betting slips and transaction messages with the match results to the petition.
Mr Juma alleges that the company’s actions were malicious and in breach of contract.
Mr Juma’s brother, Collins Kizito, told the court that he helped his brother analyse and place the bets using his (Juma’s) Betika account, which was acknowledged by the company.
“I used Juma’s account to analyse and place the bets, I followed the matches as they were played and our predictions turned out to be correct and on February 18, I called him to inform him of the same, but he told me that Betika had marked the bet as lost on their website,” Kizito alleged in court papers.
According to Kizito, the website indicated that FC Juarez had won the match against Leon, which was not true as the game ended in a draw.
He also confirms that he helped his brother contact Betika, who refused to pay the amount, prompting them to go to court.
He wants the court to issue an order compelling the company to immediately pay him his Sh500,000 winnings with interest accrued from February 18 and other damages.
Resident Magistrate Edward Otieno directed that the matter be served on the defendant before it comes up for hearing on May 8.
