British bookmakers won’t pay out grandmother’s winning bet

[ColdBeerHere]

Family pride wasn't the only reason Linda Aldred was elated to see her grandson Sam Oldham win a surprise bronze medal in men's gymnastics at the London Olympics.
The 66-year-old England native also had made a lucrative bet before the Games began that Oldham would take home a medal.
According to the Thanet Times, Aldred placed a £5 bet ($7.90) at 200-to-1 odds with Betfredin honor of her late husband and Oldham's grandfather, Eric, whom she described as "a betting man. She attempted to cash in her bet after the Olympics, but bookmakers said they wouldn't pay her the £1,000 ($1,580.30) she thought she was due because Oldham's medal came in the team competition rather than as an individual.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/british-bookmakers-won-t-pay-grandmother-winning-bet-165243779--oly.html

[borednaz]

unreal. I mean come on it was $5 bet, it's $1000. If you can't afford to pay that out in a country where bets are legal your finished. The PR cost to clean this up will dwarf the lousy 1k & cool story they could of had from paying. Idiots.

[FuzzyDunlop]

Betfred doesn't pay Grandma's bet that Grandson would medal in the Olympics.

JJ, get on the horn. We got a live one here, we can make her one of us!

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Bookies-void-gran-s-5-bet-Sam-Oldham-s-Olympic/story-16745915-detail/story.html

[LT Profits]

Hate to say it but the book is right, those type of bets are for individual medals only unless explicitly stated otherwise.

[caveira]

Hate to say it but the book is right, those type of bets are for individual medals only unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Sad, but true =/

[Santo]

The argument here is that it appears to be a handwritten ticket, which is often the case for the novelty bets ('My son will play in the Premiership' - made when he's 5 years old) that bookmakers take and never have to pay out on.. I can't see the scan too well but it appears to say 'Sam Oldham will win any medal at the 2012 Olympics' -- I think if she pursued it she might have something of a case.