The bookmaker refused to pay out the winnings. Sentence in a high-profile case after seven years
Łukasz Pawłowski – the head of the National Research Group, famous for the most precise election polls, then bet that there would be no second round in the elections in the clash between Rafał Trzaskowski and Patryk Jaki. In an interview with “Rzeczpospolita” he mentioned that he made the bet for fun, with a group of friends. They chose Totalbet, a company that was new on the market and had quite unusual conditions, namely very high odds for betting on the lack of a second round when it seemed very likely.
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Court verdict. Totalbet must pay out over PLN 300,000. zloty
The winnings turned out to be high, but, as he noted in an interview with “Rz”, not as much as they could have been if he had bet more than PLN 15. — The low starting value of the coupon shows that my intention was not to cynically exploit some loophole in the system. I could just as easily place a bet for several thousand zlotys and let the bookmaker go, says Łukasz Pawłowski to Rz.
He won approximately PLN 150,000. PLN, but the bookmaker refused to pay out, citing an alleged violation of the regulations by the bettor. Pawłowski was supposed to have more than one account, and the regulations prohibited it.
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The case went to court, and the verdict was passed after more than seven years. According to the ruling of the Warsaw Praga District Court, Totalbet is to pay out almost PLN 185,000. PLN (including statutory interest from 2018), which means, together with the costs of the process (i.e. PLN 14.7 thousand), approximately PLN 320,000. zloty.
The judgment is not final, but it may prove groundbreaking and influence future disputes regarding the cancellation of bets and the interpretation of bookmaker regulations.
