Betfair Orders Poker Players To Return Winnings Caused by a Computer Glitch

Around 20 online poker players received a request from Betfair to return more than GBP 100,000 in "winnings" after the company determined a computer glitch caused it to pay out excess amounts in error, reports an article in the UK Telegraph today.

The betting exchange has written to a number of account holders accusing them of collusion and ordering them to repay the money this week or face possible legal action.

Players are alleged to have taken advantage of a computer glitch in Sit & Go games (otherwise known as single table tournaments games or STT), which led to Betfair making erroneous payments to every participant in "certain all-in situations" (when a player stakes all his chips on the outcome of a single hand).

Word spread quickly on poker chat sites. One participant on twoplustwo succinctly explained what happened:

"The winner got the standard 1st place prize money. The 2nd place person got the 2nd place prize money. And the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th players also got 2nd place prizemoney!!!

Obviously chaos ensued, with people testing it out again and moving up to the largest stakes possible. They were just all going all-in every hand as they were guaranteed to profit! I just wish I had been part of it."

Betfair, which in 2004 switched from the Cryptologic software platform to an in-house system, rectified the computer glitch after a few hours, and stopped large amounts from being paid out.

Betfair is pursuing those who profited from their computer error, sending them an email saying:

"You recently received payments from playing Sit & Go STTs [single table tournaments] on Betfair Poker in circumstances that resulted in greater payouts than intended."

Betfair said such games "were incorrectly set up to pay everyone involved in certain all-in situations and this was exploited by you and others to generate substantial returns in a short space of time. As I'm sure you can understand, the winnings received as a result of this exploitation must be returned."

Betfair declined to comment to the Telegraph article.

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