Kenya’s SportPesa, the country’s popular sports betting platform with over 500 football games yesterday messed the scores of match winners and paid the wrong people forcing them to again pay the real winners who went online ranting about the issue.
@SportPesa yesterday I placed a bet in ID 3922 RW Erfurt vs QPR …BT QPR won according to other sites BT ur site state that Erfurt won…
— johnixx mwas (@johnmwangj) July 23, 2014
Another fan said
@MUTHUNGUNGERE @johnmwangj Kindlly be patient the QPR winning will update in a short while please
— SportPesa (@SportPesa) July 23, 2014
Another who won around Ksh 7,000 told TechMoran that he has not been paid yet adding that the firm will have to pay all the winners even if they had a system failure. This would cost the sports betting firm hundreds of thousands of shillings to compensate all the the rightful winners.
Others accused the firm of changing the results delibarately.
@SportPesa @Markwuodsuba can u correct the results for QPR to 0-1 and not 2-1. Why cook results??? @KamauMbotepic.twitter.com/fnoi3p07lN
@sportpesa Why are these two scores different? http://t.co/P4tFntexQP http://t.co/BM3O0Qgej5 @LawrenceNjenga @Markwuodsuba #KOT #QPR
— КΔMΔЦ MБӨƬΣ︻┳╦═─ (@KamauMbote) July 22, 2014
Calls to SportPesa went unanswered even as more users of the site claimed they have not been paid their dues despite being promised hours ago.
On Facebook, Martinx Chege asked why he has won several matches but the firm has never paid him and Mike Wa Kenya claimed his yesterday bet for ukraine u19 has not been paid since yesterday. These and several other claims filled the firm’s social media pages and the firm’s call centre number remained busy the best part of the day. However, the firm assured the users that it was working around the clock to have the best paid.
“We experienced a delay in the BET resulting systems,” wrote “Sportpesa, “but our team working round the clock to ensure that this doesnt occur in future, However be patient as your payments are guaranteed. Thank you.”
Apart from mixing up results, another user, George Kariuki claims his bet was cancelled despite him betting before the game began, as stipulated.
“What are conditions for cancelling a bet, i tried i got a message that cancellation had expired and game had not started.nkt!
These and many other streams of complains against the firm will easily lead to its undoing in the country as some of the users are already claiming SportPesa cons its users.”Gerald Cheruiyot wrote, “I’m almost losing hope with you. You don’t pay us immediately the game is over anymore.”John Maina on Facebook said, “Don’t make me lose the trust I had put on Sportpesa because other site like www.live score.com and www.goal.com claim QPR won 1-0 against RW Erfurt but your site claims RW Erfurt won 2-1 against QPR”
SportPesa allows football and betting fans to bet anywhere, anytime, before the first whistle of the referee of any game. The firm claims the winners are given their prizes instantly after the last whistle of the referee if their predictions are right. The motive of the change of results has not been know to this hour but to Pevans East Africa Limited’s SportPesa it’s business as usual. SportPesa is registered and regulated by Kenya’s B.C.L.B.
Update: Payments are being processed for yesterday’s bets.