A pensioner has accused Bet365 of ‘burying its head in the sand’ over child gambling after it refused to accept that his autistic grandson used his account to place thousands of pounds of bets.
Richard Powell said Owen, 11, went on to his computer while he was out and played what he called ‘granddad’s horse racing game’, unknowingly losing £3,300 in the process.
Another of those “it’s someone else’s fault” stories. I mean, Mr Powell presumably locked his computer with a secure password that the child didn’t have access to? Likewise his betting account? No?
Well how is any of this Bet365’s fault?
Yes, sure, they are supposed to refund bets made by minors, but in this case, the bets were made via Mr Powell’s account – an account that he clearly failed to take appropriate care to prevent the child from gaining access to. So they have a point – how can they be sure it was the 11-year-old grandson and not Mr Powell?
No sympathy whatsoever, he should just accept that he’s been an irresponsible idiot and move on with his life. They should have bought Owen his own iPad, it would have been a lot cheaper.
No doubt some misguided fool will set up a GoFund Me page.
I wonder if he’d have fessed up to the company if the kid had won?