S'pore Pools wrongly issues double payouts for football bets

About 3,000 bets received double payouts from Singapore Pools on Feb. 11, after a technical malfunction in the company's IT system.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, which cited a source, the error amounted to at least S$100,000 of extra payout.

Singapore Pools did not disclose the sum it aims to recover.

Customers who received the wrong payouts will be contacted.

System error

The bets that were affected involved a German Cup match on Feb. 11, Zaobao reported.

Only online bets were reportedly affected.

Feb. 11 technical issue

On Feb. 12, Singapore Pools said its IT system was “unavailable” from 6am to 9am on Feb. 11.

This also resulted in about 13,000 bets placed online or at retail outlets not successfully registered in the system.

Singapore Pools said it will refund the stakes and honour any winnings if a punter can show proof or record of a winning bet made.

But it did not reveal the sum that will be refunded.

Notice put up

A notice was put up on the Singapore Pools website on Wednesday stating that the payout for sports bets was delayed due to a technical issue, but it was later removed in the evening of the same day.

An investigation was launched and operations have returned to normal.

According to CNA, the disruption was not a cyber incident and no customer data was affected.

"We regret the inconvenience caused and will continue to work on addressing any affected customers," Singapore Pools said.

Top image via Mothership