Pietermaritzburg High Court compelled 159 individuals to repay R13 million gained through a betting system malfunction. The December 2023 incident involved Betgames Instant Lucky 7, an online lottery game operated by Hollywood sportsbook KwaZulu-Natal. Players discovered that wagers remained undeducted from their accounts during gameplay. Gamblers exploited this technical error over several days before the company detected the problem. Individual winnings ranged from R3,000 to nearly R500,000.
Judge Robin Mossop SC rejected the players' arguments defending their actions as rule-compliant behavior. The court determined that participants had gambled without financial risk, making their wagers invalid. Hollywood initially contacted...