ShareA British gambler is claiming that BoyleSports owes him $5 million from an accumulator bet placed in 2019. Darren Hope, from the UK, says that he handed over the winning bet slip and wasn’t paid, and he now has no proof that the wager was ever placed.
Hope placed a bold wager on Liverpool to win a Champions League fixture after losing their first leg game against Barcelona 3-0. Liverpool won at Anfield 4-0 at odds of 400-1. Spurs also beat Ajax at 18-1 and then Liverpool had to beat them in the final at 35-1.
All of the results came in and Darren Hope’s £20 bet was now worth $5 million.
Who Is Telling the Truth?
Hope insists that he is owed the eye-watering amount but BoyleSports claims otherwise, stating that the Coventry shop hadn’t even been launched on the date in question.On the face of it, this might look as if 52-year-old Hope is trying it on in a most brazen fashion, but there are inconsistencies that have come to light which makes it difficult to know who to believe.
For a start, there is a police record of Hope staging a protest in the Foleshill Road shop on September 25, 2019, while BoyleSports claim the premises opened in November of that year. Why this massive hole in the bookie’s story hasn’t prompted further investigation isn’t known.
Hope also claims that he was even phoned by BoyleSports after winning.
“I went to collect my winnings on June 2, the day after the final and was told they couldn’t pay it from there. I put my name, address and phone number on the slip, signed it and gave it to the woman. People have said I was stupid to hand over the slip, but what else was I supposed to do? At 8pm that night I got a call from BoyleSports. The man confirmed to me I’d won, asked for my bank details, gave me a transaction number - 320536809, and said it would take 90 days for the money to become available. I was in very high spirits.”
Phone companies can check records of any calls going back months, if not years, so why can this not be checked out?
Action Fraud was contacted but only a couple of months later told Hope that they weren’t able to find an avenue for law enforcement to pursue. The Independent Betting Adjudication Service appear to have taken BoyleSports's word that their shop didn’t open until November 2019 and also refused to take the case any further.
If Darren Hope has truly been robbed of $5 million this is a travesty on a huge scale. We have no idea who is telling the truth but reckon that this isn’t the last we have heard about this story.
