By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A SMALL number of disgruntled customers protested outside Chances headquarters on Tuesday, alleging that the gaming establishment is refusing to honour bets placed on its betting machines, with winnings ranging from $1,000 to as high as $36,000.

Chances, however, said that the bets were not valid because they were placed after the games had already started which goes against the universal rule for betting.

Scott Dickinson, who bets regularly at Chances, claims to have won over $10,000 as a result of bets placed on college basketball on Saturday night.

“I place bets all the time and I don’t think it is fair if I place a bet and the machine acknowledged my bet and I win, that I can’t get paid,” he said. “The machine acknowledged my bet and I won $10,500.”

Mr Dickinson, who took a screenshot of his winnings, said Chances refused to pay him and locked his account.

“I did not even have access to go on my own account, I don’t feel it is right.

“That money could help me a lot because things are rough with me right now, and I really could use the funds,” he said.

Vashawn Morley said his brother had also won a large sum of money on Saturday after placing bets on the machine.

“I feel it is an injustice because the machine decides if you are a winner or loser. The rules are integrated in the machine and if the machine acknowledges that you win, they can’t go against the machine,” he said.

“He decided to lock the account and said it is pending review, and wipe everything off the account. So it is his rules verses the machine rules, and it is not fair,” he complained.

When The Tribune contacted the Gaming Board, a female employee reported that no complaints had been filed against Chances concerning the matter.

The Tribune then contacted Chances and spoke with Raymond Culmer, owner, who said the gaming house had issued a statement on its Facebook page concerning claims by some customers.

The statement read: “Two days ago, five of our patrons placed large bets on a game that had already been played. Our team mistakenly left the line on the board. We discovered this error and voided all bets that were placed at a time after the game had started.

“These customers became irate and demanded that they be paid. Chances advised them of the universal rule that states that for a bet to be valid it must be placed before an event is started. Chances returned the amount of money they betted and encouraged them to lodge a complaint with the Gaming Board, if they felt we were wrong. Instead they threatened to blackmail Chances with bad publicity if we didn’t pay them. We refused,” the company said.

“This afternoon we contacted the Gaming Board who informed us that no complaints (were) lodged and no enquiries about the matter (were) made.”

The statement further claimed that the five customers in question are seasoned sports book players and knew that they were not entitled to be paid.

Chances said that when the company unlocked the customers’ accounts and it noticed that they continued to place bets today.

Lionel Morley, a spokesman for the group, said they intend to pursue the matter civilly in the courts against Chances.

He claims that some seven or eight persons were affected, some of whom had won $36,000, $10,000, $7,000 and $1,000 in bet winnings. “This is not the first time this has happened,” he claimed. “And we are calling on government of the country that it cannot make legislation to collect tax on backs of Bahamians and leave them out to defend for themselves,” Mr Morley said.

“Mr Culmer says he does not recognise the win because some of bets came in late, but he recognises the losses. We have to protect the marginalised and those who make the sacrifice to gamble,” he stated.

“Sometimes their light turned off or they can’t pay their mortgage, and they make the sacrifice …to take a chance…and we say this cannot be fair.”

Mr Morley stated that a couple a months ago he filed a complaint with the Gaming Board on a separate issue, and is still awaiting the findings.

“Chances has all rules for gaming there on its website. As long as the machine accepts the bet, the machine recognise that the bet is on time. We intend to pursue this civilly in courts, but we want to highlight what is happening because… number house change the rules at the ninth hour.

“These young people stay in those computers and study these picks. They should not be disenfranchised and denied their winnings. We intend to pursue this as long as it takes,” Mr Morley said.