April 7, 2021 3.58 pm This story is over 35 months old

Lincoln blackjack winner gets £1.7m after Betfred court battle

A huge case of beating the bookies
Andrew Green pictured in his home. | Photo: BBC News
By Local Democracy Reporter

A Lincoln man who won £1.7 million playing blackjack on a betting site has won a three-year legal battle with Betfred to claim the winnings after they claimed a ‘glitch’ was the reason he won.

Andrew Green, 54, from Washingborough, was playing Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven on the betting app, and after six hours he went from £100 to £1.7 million in January 2018.

After hitting the jackpot, a staggering £1,722,923.54, Andrew rushed to the pub and ran up a £2,500 bill to celebrate with his friends.

Andrew was called up by Betfred who congratulated him on becoming a millionaire, and even offered him financial advice.

Four days later, Betfred claimed that Andrew only won because of a system malfunction, and he would not be given the money.

The betting company paid off Andrew’s pub bill, and even offered him £60,000 to not talk about the issue again, but he refused.

In October 2020, he took the case to the High Court, looking to sue Betfred and its parent company Petfre, for £2 million.

He has now won that legal battle and will be given the jackpot earnings from his blackjack victory.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Foster ruled in Andrew’s favour and said Betfred had no grounds to withhold payment.

However, in a statement after the judgement, Andrew said the three-year row over the payout had made him wish he’d never won, BBC News reported.

“My physical health has also suffered badly, and I sometimes wished I’d never won this money, because it was just making my life a misery,” he said.

“But today, I feel like the world has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel so incredibly happy and relieved.”

Betfred also apologised for the delay paying out the money and said it would not appeal against the ruling.