BCLC sports betting site criticised by rugby fan allowed to make illegal bet

A B.C. rugby fan thought he'd won big when Argentina advanced to the semi-finals at the Rugby World Cup until the British Columbia Lottery Corporation told him the bet he made on its site was illegal.

'We take their word that everything is done in a fair way, but this is an example that it might not be'

A B.C. rugby fan thought he'd won big when Argentina advanced to the semi-finals at the Rugby World Cup until the British Columbia Lottery Corporation told him the bet he made on its site was illegal.

Jose Godoy-Toku says he's an avid rugby fan and has been following the Rugby World Cup, currently taking place in England.

On October 17 he decided to take his passion a bit further by trying to wager on Argentina's fortunes as the team was set to play Ireland in the tournament's quarter-finals the next day.

He went onto the BCLC's website PlayNow.com and bet $1000 that Argentina would make the semi-finals in the tournament at 2.5 odds.

Argentina won the match and qualified for the semis.

Godoy-Toku saw the winnings in his account and transferred that sum to his bank account but shortly afterwards his phone rang and a representative from the BCLC was on the line.

"They told me that the bet was illegal, that it was contrary to the criminal code," he said. "And that they would refund me the bet, the amount I made, $1000, but not pay me out my winnings."

'Pretty unfair'

"I though it was you know pretty unfair that residents of the province are going to their web site, making a bet that they're offering and then not pay out."

Under current Canadian law, single-event betting is illegal.

When Godoy-Toku bet for Argentina to make it to the semi-finals, the outcome, at the time, was only based on one factor, that the team beat Ireland in the quarterfinals.

Normally, while betting on PlayNow.com, gamblers need to make secondary bets — or parlay bets — to stay within Canadian rules.

BCLC says on PlayNow.com that bets sometimes that fall outside of this in error. It retains the right to later void those bets or place them at "special odds."

Human errors

"Unfortunately, human errors can occur and periodically bets may be posted in error," said Caroline Wakefield in a statement from the BCLC. "This happens from time to time on all sports betting sites, given the complexity and sheer volume of options."

Wakefield says in the statement that the week that Godoy-Toku made his bet, there was close to 500,000 wages made with more than two million potential outcomes.

Still Godoy-Toku says he was not impressed with the way the corporation handled his bet and worried what happened to all the other gamblers who made the same bet, but lost.

"I will never go back to PlayNow," he said  "There is something here that is not transparent."

The BCLC says all the bets in this instance have been made void and players registered on its site have been refunded.

Earlier this fall a Toronto Blue Jays in B.C. fan took the BCLC to small claims court after it voided his bet on a similar premise.