In November 2018, Ghbase.com published a story about a young man known as Theophilus Morgan who won Ghc57 million at sports betting company Safaribet but was been denied his money after winning.
We added that Safaribet stated that, they were going to pay Ghc286,000 of the total amount he’s won on condition that he signs a waiver, an offer Morgan strongly rejected as he felt he’s been cheated.
He petitioned the Gaming Commission, the body responsible for supervising the activities of all betting companies in the country to intervene and in a letter sighted by Ghbase.com, the commission instructed Safaribet to pay Morgan the Ghc286,000 they claim he only won, while they investigate and conclude whether he has right to get the remaining balance or not.
Now for those who have not been following the story, sometime in November 12th, 2018, Morgan placed a bet of Ghc1 each on 220 bet slips with an accumulated odd of 261,000. Each slip had same matches, and all 24 match predictions which comprised of Europa league games, EPL games Bundesliga, Italie Seria A, France Ligue won, meaning that, Safaribet has an obligation to honour payment of all 220 slips after they all won.
Now that brings the total amount Safari has to pay him to Ghc57,420,000 but according to him, they will pay for one slip which is Ghc261,000 plus bonus of Ghc20,000, bringing the total sum to Ghc286,000.
Their argument is that, all slips are the same, so only one is valid but their argument is flawed in that, their system kept accepting his slips and the question, one asks is, if all 220 slips had lost, would they have refunded him the money for 219 slips because it lost?
When Ghbase.com spoke to Morgan, he mentioned that he’s been a punter for a very long time and has been trying multiple bet slips for a long time and had lost several thousands of cedis and all of those times, Safari never refunded him just because they were of the same predictions.
He maintains that he’s ready to take the one slip which Safari claims, is the only slip he won but he won’t kowtow to Safari before getting his money as no one signs any waiver before been paid.
A part of the letter from the Gaming Commission to 15th February 2019 Safaribet reads:
The directive is to pay the outstanding figure of Ghc286,792 on “The” One ticket which is not in contention pending the conclusion of investigations into the matter by the commission. Please note this payment is not intended to in FINAL SETTLEMENT of the matter.
Safaribet’s parent company, Africa Gaming and Entertainment had until the 20th February to make payment and also to submit all information in addition to Morgan’s betting history.
It’s been weeks since that letter was sent from Gaming Commission to Safaribet but they’ve ignored that directive, as it’s obvious the Gaming Commission looks weak.
In any serious jurisdiction, Safaribet’s license will be revoked to prove to them that, they are not above the law.
Safaribet’s stubbornness clearly shows that they know they are cheating the young man, reason why they want to force him to sign a document to accept their position.
We are monitoring the situation and would be waiting to see how a body responsible for monitoring betting companies finally handles this situation.
When Ghbase.com reached out to Safarbet for comments, they refused to talk and asked us to send an email—An email we’ve sent a dozen times, yet no one replies.
I am a punter myself and have placed bets several times with Soccabet, 1xbet, betway, Sportybet and none of them have ever asked me to sign a waiver before paying me when I won an amount, whether huge or small, so Safaribet’s behaviour is surprising.
It’s even more shocking that a whole gaming commission cannot revoke their license to force them to adhere to the rules.
