Playtech denies liability for €30m Superbet blunder

Playtech denies responsibility for a mistake that lost Superbet €30m in Romania.

Superbet has announced it will pay out prizes as customers cashed in on a slots glitch with thousands of Romanian players scooping a big windfall

The operator said that a succession of wrongly computed prizes in the Fire Blaze Red Wizard game led to around 7,500 accounts winning a total of €30m.

Playtech, meanwhile, has vigorously denied that any fault in their software caused the purported glitch.

A Playtech spokesman told iGaming Expert: “We can confirm that there are no malfunctions or gameplay issues with this or any other Playtech slot.

Playtech games are functioning normally and any issues mentioned are not related to Playtech game functionality.”

The appropriate thing to do
After information of the flaw circulated throughout messaging systems, Superbet placed a temporary lock on the accounts of players who exploited the glitch.

However, the operator later changed the decision and allowed players to withdraw the money from their accounts.

In a statement, Superbet said that despite the circumstances, it will “do what is right for our customers”.

“On initial review we found a set of incorrectly calculated winnings which resulted in the wrong amounts being awarded in excess of what should have been awarded based on the random components of the game,” the operator stated.

“We are demonstrating by choosing to honor these payments that we have an organizational culture founded on trust with our customers and the ability to manage unforeseen situations.”

The company stated said the situation is totally resolved and the cause is being analyzed with its partners.

Gala Bingo terms and conditions apply
Gala Bingo in the UK had a similar scenario, but elected to deal with it through its terms and conditions.

Almost 2,000 gamers thought they had won up to £10,000 each from a £1.6m prize pool in August – but customers could not withdraw their winnings. Gala Bingo then told players their success was because of a technical error in the Summer Nites Bingo campaign.

Gala Bingo reimbursed customers for the cost of their bingo tickets, in line with its terms and conditions, following the identification of the issue.

A Gala Bingo spokeswoman told iGaming Expert: “We apologize to customers for a technical error which happened during our Summer Nites Bingo promotion for a short period of time, which caused all players to receive incorrect payouts.

“Our customer Terms and Conditions are clear that in the event of a malfunction, winnings can be voided. Those affected have been approached immediately with a goodwill gesture.”

It is the first time an operator has chosen to pay out prizes and will reignite the debate over responsibility in the wake of a technical failure. Similar sums have been seen before – but only after lengthy court battles such as the one with Paddy Power earlier this year.