Error on Wheel of Fortune Game at Bet365

**sheikdjibouti** · 27th October 2009, 10:59 AM

Hi all - this is my first post so be gentle!

Firstly, I apologise for the length of this post, but it's important to get the facts straight . . .

Last Sunday evening, I decided to have a go at online slots on Bet365 (I know, mugs game!). I didn't want to spend too much so credited my account with �15. After playing a couple of other games with no return, I was looking at the Bet365 homepage, deciding what to play next. On the games homepage, it shows the 3 most recent big winners and I noticed that all three had won over �1000 on the Wheel of Fortune (Hollywood Edition) slot, so I decided to have a go at that.

Having not really played the game before, I wasn't aware that the bonus game jackpots were vastly over-inflated from normal(�1000 lower, �1500 middle, �2000 top), but assumed it was some kind of tempter to get you hooked . . . I didn't think I'd actually win them in a month of Sundays (that's how it normally goes, right?).

After playing for a short time (50p a spin for 5 win lines), the three bonus symbols came in and I was taken to the bonus game. I nearly fell off my chair when I won the bonus jackpot (I think it was the �1000 the first time)!!!! After winning the jackpot, the three jackpot amounts in the game reset themselves to �10, �7.50 and �5 . . . how lucky had I been?!?!?

So with �1000 credited to my game account, I decided to "withdraw" �700 to my bank account and use the �300 as a slush fund to see if I could win any more either at Wheel of Fortune or other games in the Casino. I go back to Wheel of Fortune and immediately notice that the bonus jackpots were back up to �2000, �1500 and �1000. Over the course of the next few hours (I must've played from 9pm until about 3am!!!), I won the jackpot at Wheel of Fortune several more times (often played with much higher stakes). I really can't remember how many times in total (currently no way of checking), but in total I "withdrew" �4100 and still had about �6400 in my game account!! - the stuff dreams are made of!!

I also played several other slots, roulette, blackjack, virtual dogs and hi-low gambler and possibly other games during the course of the evening, but I don't know if I was particularly up or down on any of those . . . despite some really quite stupidly big bets (up to �1000 on hi-low gambler!) Of course, the chances are I was very much down on the other games, but it didn't matter as I'd won so much on Wheel of Fortune. It was hard to tell for the following reason.

I called it a night, but was up first thing the next day to check I hadn't dreamt it up . . . lo and behold, my account had been suspended and also the Wheel of Fortune game was unavailable. I called Customer Service to find out what is going on and they tell my my account is suspended and someone from the investigation team will be in contact shortly.

Naturally I start to search the internet and the bet 365 website for more information about account suspension, but there wasn't a great deal to be found. I read the Bet365 terms and conditions on suspension . . did they think I was a computer whizz who'd hacked in trying to defraud them??

Having waited and worried all day, I finally receive the following email from Bet365 customer service:

Please be advised your bet365 account has been temporarily suspended following a review of the game play on your account.

An error within the Wheel of Fortune game has led to an overpayment of the
returns in respect of this game.

May I draw your attention to the bet365 terms and conditions.

All winnings will be credited to the customer account. Any funds/winnings
credited to an account in error are not available for use, and bet365 reserves
the right to void any transactions involving such funds, either at the time or
retrospectively.

To resolve this matter all funds contributed to this overpayment will be
removed, as such your balance will reflect the true game play payouts of your
activity.

Once the adjustments are completed your account will be reactivated.

As I suspected, the Wheel of Fortune game had gone wrong and I hadn't won the 000's I'd hoped for

But the bit in that email that really worries me is this: all funds contributed to this overpayment will be removed, as such your balance will reflect the true game play payouts of your activity.

As I played several other games that night and probably lost several hundred/thousands pounds on them (because they weren't broken and the house always wins eventually). My concern is that Bet365 will try to recoup these losses and make out that I actually OWE them money from the losing these other games.

Surely they can't do that . . .can they??? - I mean I would have never have played all the other games if my game account balance hadn't been so vastly over-inflated in the first place. I guess it could be argued that if the losses from the other games are genuine then the winnings from the Wheel of Fortune game that generated the funds to support those losses are equally genuine . . . . . I have asked Bet365 to clarify what they mean - ie are all the overpaid games voided and all the other games played with those overpayments equally voided?

any thoughts? (if you're still awake out there!!)

**sheikdjibouti** · 27th October 2009, 11:07 AM

Just to add that, needless to say, none of the money I tried to withdraw to my bank account has actually been withdrawn from Bet365 . . I think that would normally take at least 1-2 working days anyway.

**marioking24** · 27th October 2009, 01:31 PM

I am sure, that they will not put you into a negative balance! Maybe they will zero out your balance, but more likely they put it back to the initial deposit amount.

**DiamondGeezer** · 27th October 2009, 02:16 PM

It would be illegal for them to charge you anything because that would mean they had been offering you credit. You can only lose the funds you deposited.

Amazing incident. Wonder if anyone was a bit luckier than you?

**SlotMonster** · 27th October 2009, 02:32 PM

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

But I cannot understand where is the "overpayment".
I'm sure you were paid right at least for the first time, but then (after you logged in into the game the secind time) your balance allowed you to bet higher - and win more. Or Jackpot amount doesn't depend on your bet size?

**sheikdjibouti** · 27th October 2009, 02:54 PM

Thanks for your replies everyone

@slotmonster:

I think the error was that the bonus Jackpot should never have been �1000, �1500 or �2000 in the first place. It should've been �5, �7.50 and �10. This gets added to if the right symbols come up on the reels, but only at 50p or �1 at a time. Once I'd won the jackpot, all I had to do was close the game screen and reopen it from the game menu and the jackpot was reset to �1000, �1500 and �2000

So I won the jackpot several times over the session because I was winning �1000 or more each time and then paying 50p a spin to try and win more. The odds of doing this were seriously in my favour, given the amount I had to play with.

I guess the moral of this is, if it looks too good to be true . . . it probably is

**sheikdjibouti** · 27th October 2009, 06:33 PM

There's been another couple of twists to this saga . . . .

I contacted Bet365 again through their live chat feature to see if I would end up owing them money. They said no, the account would be set back to zero at worst and any further losses would be swallowed by them . . . . .

I've just now checked my bank account balance and three transactions (for �700, �800 and �1600) have been credited to my bank account from Bet365.

Whilst I was playing on Sunday night, I made (or requested at least) these three withdrawals from my bet365 account to my bank.

I thought they would've been cancelled by Bet 365 when they knew there was an error on their game and suspended my account . . . but obviously not

I daren't touch the money as I've a feeling they are going to try and ask for (or simply take) it back.

This is all very weird indeed!

**hushda24** · 27th October 2009, 07:12 PM

They cant touch your bank account

If the money is in ITS all YOURS

I sugest you go shoping with it tomoz

**sheikdjibouti** · 27th October 2009, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by hushda24

They cant touch your bank account

If the money is in ITS all YOURS

I sugest you go shoping with it tomoz

Hmmm . . . . I'm not so sure.

Bet365 emailed again 2hours ago to say it's under further investigation and they'll be in touch in the next 24 hours to tell me what action has been taken.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see . . .

**sheikdjibouti** · 28th October 2009, 01:40 PM

Another update.

I had contacted Bet365 through their livechat feature. One of the questions I asked was what happens if, after the re-adjustments, my account has a negative balance, will I owe you any money? The reply was as follows:

No, you will not owe us any money. If it is the case that your account is in a negative balance after it has been rectified, we will cover the costs.

They have sent me a transcript of the conversation.

Not quite sure how to read this answer, are they saying they won;t try and get back what I'd already withdrawn?

Having done a bit of research it appears there was a similar case on Betfair poker where 6 players stayed up all night playing high stakes six packs going all in on the first hand, and as one person won everyone else came second, they all got paid out.

Similarly BF froze their accounts.....no idea if they came to an agreement......rumoured to have taken over a million in a few hours.