The High Court has dismissed an appeal by a punter who sought to be paid Sh99.9 million from a game run by betting firm Betika.
In dismissing the case, Justice Alfred Mabeya said Claire Nyabayo had failed to demonstrate that the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) was wrong to rely on terms and conditions applied by Betika to pay her Sh1 million after winning in a game known as ‘Magic Numbers’.
Ms Nyabayo had claimed that the betting firm shortchanged her by capping the winnings at Sh1 million when the full amount she had won was Sh99.9 million, which was the total winnings.
The punter had taken the betting firm to the BCLB but her claim was dismissed by the board saying the terms and conditions stated that the maximum amount was Sh1 million.
“The outcome of this is that, while there is no evidence showing that the terms and conditions were in place to bind the appellant to the Sh1 million maximum payout, the evidence on record suggests that a system issue may have led to unusually high payments,” said the judge.
The court said by seeking to be paid Sh99.9 million from a faulty system would amount to unjust enrichment.
“The burden of proof is on the person who alleges the existence of the set of circumstances he wishes the court to believe.
“In the present case, the appellant’s case is that the board was wrong in relying on terms and conditions that were not in existence at the time she placed her wager,” the court said, adding that Ms Nyabayo failed to produce the terms and conditions that set the amount at Sh99.9 million.
In the petition, Ms Nyabayo said the Sh1 million was not mentioned anywhere and that the game identified and confirmed a system problem described as an internal bug.
She also accused the BCLB of failing to hold Betika accountable for withholding her winnings for almost two years.
The punter said that the freezing of her account and the withholding of her winnings violated her right to fair administrative action under Article 47 of the Constitution.
She also questioned the impartiality of the game developers, Split the Pot AB, regarding their claim of a critical bug, citing a lack of evidence as to when the bug occurred.
Ms Nyabayo also said BCLB incorrectly relied on terms and conditions about maximum winnings that were not in force when she played on January 2 and 3, 2022, suggesting that the terms were introduced when she disputed her winnings.
The betting firm maintained that any winnings exceeding the maximum limit of Sh1 million were null and void and that Betika was not obligated to pay any amount beyond the allowable limit.
According to BCLB, a report from the manufacturer of the game ‘Magic Numbers’ revealed that the multiplier was incorrectly calculated due to a flaw in the game’s logic, leading to an unusually high multiplier.
The board added that the bets followed similar patterns and settings, with bet amounts increasing significantly over a short period of time, despite the initial account balances being relatively low.
