Mgt of Supabets, customers disagree over payment
The management of Supabets Ghana Limited, a licensed betting company in Kumasi, has proposed a 35 per cent payment of each winning ticket to its customers who were unable to redeem their winning tickets last week due to a mistake in the odds.
Advertisement
The proposal was meant to settle the controversy surrounding the winning tickets while measures are put in place to ensure that such a problem does not recur.
However some of the winners, about 50 young people, do not support the management’s proposal. This came to light when the Daily Graphic visited the Asafo office of the company.
A definite agreement is yet to be reached between the two parties.
Statement
A statement issued by Supabets said since its establishment in the country in 2010, they had always operated with the rules and regulations pertaining to the gaming industry in Ghana.
It described the current development as unfortunate since it had always kept faith with its customers.
Error
‘The errors that occurred are as a result of feeds and odds supplied by reputable, international companies that are used worldwide to obtain odds and gaming software,’ the statement explained.
‘It should also be noted that there are different markets available for betting; some are exclusive to Supabets which other gaming establishments don’t offer,’ it added.
The statement further said industry players, including Supabets, being aware that such errors may occur, have made arrangements in the form of notices to all prospective customers stating that in case of any such errors, the company will settle all the winners with the correct odds and then the tickets will be paid out using the general market average.
It insisted that ‘that was what was done across all industry players and any customers that tried to take advantage of same were liable for cheating as is ascribed by the gaming laws of Ghana.’
According to the statement, ‘It is worthy to note that all betting at Supabets branches are subject to our rules and this is boldly captured on each ticket that is bought by a customer.’
Background
Last week, the mostly unemployed stakers held the company’s officials hostage for hours because of their failure to redeem their winning tickets after last Monday’s Israeli league matches.
The all-boys invasion brought activities at the company’s offices to a temporary halt. It took the Asokwa District Police to restore calm to the area.
The stakers won in the matches between Hapoel Beer Sheva F/C and Beitar Jerusalem F/C and Hapoel Raanana versus Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The first match ended 2-0 in favour of Beer Sheva and the second ended in a 1-1 draw.