Bet McLean Catastrophe – Irish Punters Please Help
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This week has been extremely lucrative for Irish matched bettors. BetMcLean’s offer on Galway and Goodwood Races has provided me with almost £1000 in free bets.
Yesterday, I used £100 of my free bet balance on a treble with total odds of 28.6. I used a spreadsheet to calculate a sequential lay method and guarantee over £150. The treble went onto win – this gave a return of £2760 in McLean and I lost £2600 in Smarkets.
Later on last night, I withdrew almost £3000 from my then considerable McLean balance. Nothing was amiss as I went to sleep last night.
This morning at 11am, I receive a phone call from a withheld phone number. I’m told I’m speaking to the McLean company and am expecting to told I have been gubbed from the promotion. Instead I am told my £100 free bet on the 28.6 treble has been “adjusted” as hidden deep in their ts and cs was a clause that free bets were for use on singles bets only. I ask what the new adjusted return is… £193
That’s £2567 down on the original return. I’m pretty sure this qualifies as a genuine “disaster”. Because I was down £2600 on smarkets from laying the said treble my net position is -£2407… the withdrawal I made the night prior has been blocked.
Unsurprisingly I intend to fight against this decision. The one foothold I may have is that I was never prevented by the website from placing the treble. They also had absolutely no problem accepting free bets on doubles and trebles that turned out to lose. I also can’t believe the £193 return from the original £2760 is a fair settlement.
On the other hand, this rule was in the terms before the promotion started so perhaps they are in the right here.
What would be the best course of action to at least get some of my return back? Would filing an appeal to IBAS be a sensible option? Is there any other authority I can turn to?
How would be the best way to negotiate with BetMcLean?I recall some posters at the start of the week warning to be careful with this McLean offer as they are associates of Boylesports and ApolloBet. But I think what they meant was the promotion being pulled early, rather than this awful situation.
If there’s anything I’ve written here that doesn’t add up please don’t hesitate to point it out.
Understandably, I would be extremely grateful for any advice of any sort… thanks very much guys.
