A punter has written a letter of claim threatening High Court action against Sportsbetting and Gaming Services, operator of the online bookmaker Seanie Mac, and demanding payment of £245,000 that he claims to be owed.
The punter, whose identity is known to The Guardian, says he first asked to withdraw the sum from his betting account in March but has, to date, received nothing.
Late on Wednesday night and following three days of enquiries, the chief executive of SGS, Steve Fisher, emailed The Guardian to say that he had been trying to persuade Seanie Mac to pay their customers, conceding that other high-staking customers had encountered similar problems. He promised that SGS would cover the debts if Seanie Mac did not.
The punter reports that he opened his account in December and made significant profits from bets placed over the next three months. He says that the tone of emails from Seanie Mac was conciliatory, promising that the money would be sent eventually but that in the meantime the firm was suffering cashflow problems.
In an email of 21 April seen by The Guardian, Garreth Core, Seanie Mac’s chief operating officer, told the punter: “Our partners are not in a position to release the funds until we send the funds from the US. I was hoping this would happen today but it now looks like it will be tomorrow/Monday.
“Can I please ask you to give me until COB on Monday to have your wire sent along with a solid payment schedule? I understand if this is asking too much of you but I hope you can allow us the extra time to resolve this matter. I ask you to please believe I am doing everything I can to get you paid as soon as possible. I again apologise and thank you for your co-operation to date.”
The punter says this is the last meaningful communication he has received from the firm.
Fisher’s email said: “As the license holders, we are ultimately responsible for all customers’ transactions. We have spent a great deal of time trying to get to the decision-makers of the company to resolve the present situation.
“Now that we have managed to do that and explain the situation, we have been able to clarify issues of concern. Obviously I cannot go into detail and I am well aware that all [the punter] is only interested in is getting paid, not hearing excuses.
“I can confirm that we have come to an arrangement whereby funds will be released shortly in order to pay all outstanding customer balances. I can also confirm that if, for any reason, the funds are not forthcoming from Seanie Mac, that SGS will step in to make payment in full after exhausting all other options.
“I have been a licensed bookmaker since 1971, when I started with one shop in the village of Compton, Berkshire, and in all that time I have never welshed on any bet that I have been responsible for laying. Unlike, unfortunately, some of my clients over the years.
“I am sorry for all the inconvenience a small number of high-staking customers have experienced but I am satisfied that SGS has managed the situation as best it could under difficult circumstances and has eventually convinced all sides to to the honourable thing.”
Seanie Mac leased odds from Boylesports until April last year. It then relaunched in the autumn, having acquired ApolloBet.com. In August, its chief executive, Shane O’Driscoll, denied reports that the company’s future was imperilled by $10m of debt, stating that the debt was overstated by $7m.
A Twitter account running under the name of seaniemac.com has not tweeted since 30 April, having previously churned out promotional tweets at the rate of up to 40 per day. However, the firm’s betting website still appears to be active.
The punter in question copied his letter of claim to the Gambling Commission but the regulator declined to discuss the case in detail when approached by The Guardian. “We do not comment on any individual cases or consumer complaints as a matter of course,” a Commission spokesman said.
“Any customer that has a dispute should follow the operators’ complaints process. We require all gambling operators to also provide details of a free third-party alternative dispute resolution service that customers can contact if they are still unhappy with the outcome. Further to this, the customer can consider taking their complaint to court.”
Both Seanie Mac and Apollobet have been named as authorised betting partners by the British Horseracing Authority. A BHA spokesman said: “Neither the BHA, nor British Racing, regulate bookmakers. This is the role of the Gambling Commission. Before a bookmaker is licensed it must first pass the due diligence tests that the Gambling Commission carries out to assess suitability and viability.”
