The curious case of two winners in one protest at Rosehill
IF you’re a racing punter who has an online betting account you would have come across, and probably profited from, a race that has been decided via protest.
Any bookmaker worth their salt has a protest payout, which means you will be paid out on the interim dividend (first past the post) and the protest result, which would have come in handy for punters investing on the last race at Rosehill on Saturday.
That's a huge win! Interlocuter overcomes plenty of adversity to reign supreme in the last of the day at #Rosehill. pic.twitter.com/VxBYlIIuUo
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 9, 2017
The result on the race was overturned by the stewards after they deemed Interlocuter’s extrication from being pocketed inhibited Wayanka’s winning chance.
On the weekend the online bookmakers came to the party and paid out on both horses.
Don't worry if you backed Interlocuter punters. Protest Payout means we pay out on both Wayanka and Interlocuter!
— Ladbrokes.com.au (@ladbrokescomau) September 9, 2017
A lot of people like to put two bets on a particular race, which is known as a “saver”, if they think their selection might be rivaled by another horse.
One unlucky punter had a bet on both horses in the final race on the card but only received one dividend from Crownbet.
The punter – who wished to remain anonymous – told HorseBetting.com.au that the online bookmaker tried to credit his account with just the single win.
“I couldn’t believe my luck on this one,” he said.
“I said to myself ‘you beauty’ after the protest got upheld, how often do you get two winners from two separate runners in a single race? It was the first I’d ever heard of it.”
The punter’s celebrations were muted not long after however following the protest result coming through.
“Once the upheld verdict came through I only had the Wayanka result in my account, and I was was thinking ‘what’s going on here’, don’t these blokes pay out on first past the post and the protest winner?
Is anyone else disappointed by that protest result in the last at Rosehill? #unhappypunter #quaddie
— Simon Woinarski (@simonjzw) September 9, 2017
“I was just hoping this wasn’t another way that these guys try and dud you because I was pretty dirty on this one.”
The punter then contacted customer service and after a discussion he was issued a payout for both runners.
“In the end justice was served on their part, but it did take some needling on my part. What if I hadn’t seen the race and only saw the result?
“I just hope if someone else had a similar bet they didn’t go through what I had to.
“They said it was a technical glitch on their end and ordinarily the payout would have been automatically generated on both. Fair’s fair though and I got my double pay off.”
Following the conversation with the disgruntled punter, we contacted the big-name bookmakers, which offer protest payouts to see if they would credit bets of a similar ilk in the future.
Representatives from Sportsbet and William Hill confirmed that they would credit both horses as winners if the result was overturned in an upheld protest, while Crownbet – despite the punter’s troubles – also said they would do the same in the future.
Unfortunately the TAB do not offer protest payout deals as part of their service, and if you ever needed incentive to open an account online, than surely this is it.
Has there ever been a more brutal way for a multi to go down than this one? Surely not! @HorseBettingAU pic.twitter.com/WmLQ8xQmTX
— Todd Davey (@ToddJDavey) September 12, 2017
It is a fickle game punting, so we applaud the protest punter who came out on top. Take your victories when you can get them.