Frank asked for our help when a costly misunderstanding with a spread-betting firm resulted in a £2,500 loss.
What happened
Frank decided to find a spread-betting company for a bet he wanted to place. Spread-betting is where you win or lose money based on how much the actual outcome differs from the bookmaker’s expected range of values. The more the outcome moves away from the expected values, the more you can win or lose.
He found a company that did spread-betting and took trades over the phone. Frank placed a spread bet with the company on how many home wins versus away wins there'd be in the English Football Premier League.
But the company only gave quotes for home/away goals, not home/away wins. So, the bet would be on how many more goals would be scored in home matches than in away matches.
Frank misunderstood this and ended up owing the company £2,500. He complained to us that the company didn't explain the nature of the trade properly. He believed that he was betting on wins, not goals.
What we said
We listened to the recording of the phone call between Frank and dealer talking about the bet. The conversation included mentions of ‘homes over aways,’ but there was nothing specifically about wins or goals.
We also looked at the company's terms and conditions, which Frank had agreed to. They stated that they didn't quote for spread bets on home/away wins. The terms also said that customers would need to learn some essential details before placing a bet.
This included how spread-betting works, common betting terms, the market and index hours, and the expiry times and dates of the contracts made.
Based on the evidence, we concluded that the company wasn't at fault for the misunderstanding, so we didn't uphold Frank's complaint.