Bet9ja Refuses To Pay Customer’s N3.350m Winning, Threatens Him With OPC, Police

Bet9ja is Nigeria’s number one sports betting company, however the company’s integrity is currently in question, and its legitimacy is under examination, as it refuses to pay a customer’s N3.350 million winnings.

On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, between 7 and 8 p.m., a government worker (names withheld) played Bet9ja virtual soccer game and won the jackpot of N10.850 million. In the Akute area of Ogun State, he received the game from one of the company’s agents.

As soon as the winning number flashed on the bet shop’s screen, yells of delight filled the room as other customers joined in the celebration. But their elation would be short-lived due to Bet9ja’s refusal to pay the winnings.

The public servant took leave from work and traveled to Bet9ja’s head office in Ojuelegba, Lagos, where he was attended to by a trio of Yetunde, Raji, and Joseph, a super agent, who were all surprised by the bet company’s attitude.

After going back and forth for roughly seven days, Bet9ja paid N5 million from the prize on Monday, July 12, 2021, and another installment of N2.5 million the next day, “while the trio of Yetunde, Raji, and Joseph have claimed that the remaining N3.350 million will not be paid. The winner told Newscarte, “They said that’s worldly money, therefore I can’t spend it alone.”

“To my greatest surprise, they have been threatening me in different ways. They first threatened to send some OPC members after me. Later, I started receiving calls from people who claimed to be mobile policemen, threatening me to stop requesting for the money or have myself to blame. I’m saying this out so that Nigerians can know in case anything happens to me.

“For many years, I have been losing money on Bet9ja’s soccer bets. There was a time I took N20,000 from my house rent to stake a game, and ended up losing. My whole world almost crumbled that time. It is really painful that when the compensation eventually came, some representatives of Bet9ja want to rob me of the joy,” he further told Newscarte.

So far, several efforts by the civil servant to get the balance of his winning has proved abortive. “When I called Bet9ja customer care line, the representative that picked the call said I should send a letter if I’m not satisfied with the amount paid from my winning. The whole thing has really been frustrating.”

When Newscarte called Raji, one of the accused Bet9ja representatives on his Airtel mobile number, he boasted “I can’t talk to you on phone. As a journalist, you don’t have the right to call me on phone because I don’t know you… You must also tell me who gave you my number.”