Man wins nearly $400,000 on sports bet, only to have it all canceled by BetMGM

By Lauren Victory

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Big money is on the line as March Madness begins — the American Gaming Association estimates the college basketball frenzy will being in $3.1 billion in bets this year.

One suburban Chicago dad has a warning, after he was left feeling ripped off to the tune of $400,000. His would-be winning bets disappeared right before his eyes.

Military veteran Mark Aiello took a gamble on civilian life when he started a family and moved back to the Chicago suburbs.

“I really enjoyed my time in the Navy, and I’m enjoying my next chapter here,” Aiello said.

The next chapter looked especially bright a few weeks ago because of basketball.

“I was sitting here looking around at my daughter’s toys and thinking, you know, all the things that I could give her,” Aiello said.

It was Sunday, March 2. A Chicago Bulls-Indiana Pacers game was scheduled for 4 p.m. About seven hours earlier, Aiello opened up the sports betting app BetMGM and put money on the matchup.

“When you have a little skin in the game, it’s exciting,” Aiello said.

Aiello placed four $500 bets on rebounds and assists by certain players. Six aspects, or “legs,” of the game needed to go his way to win.

His odds of cashing in weren’t great.

“350 to 1 is definitely like hard odds to hit, so it’s unlikely,” Aiello said. “Once the game was over, I was just, my heart was racing. I was incredibly excited.”

That was because it was his lucky day. His winning bets banked $389,000 — enough for his daughter’s future college education.

“I was just thinking about my daughter in that moment,” Aiello said.

But a moment was about all it lasted.

“I looked at my BetMGM app, and I noticed that it looks weird,” Aiello said, “like all of the bets were grayed out.”

Aiello’s bets had been canceled just minutes before tipoff as if he had never gambled at all — no wager, no winnings.

“it’s discouraging,” Aiello said. “It’s confusing and it makes you angry.”

Fairfax County, Virginia resident Kris Benton ran into a similar problem a couple of years ago.

“It was devastating,” he said.

Benton saw big dollar signs through BetMGM in 2023. But the company voided his $214,000 payout a few hours later.

“They just kept, you know, spamming me with their terms and conditions about the ‘obvious errors’ clause,” said Benton.

Aiello got the same explanation. He was sent the message, “These wagers were voided due to an obvious error.”

An “obvious error of incorrect or inflated odds per the house rules” is keeping Aiello from his nearly $400,000 prize.

But the Roselle, Illinois father is confused, because he said a BetMGM trader reviewed at least one of his bets before allowing him to place it.

“They took a look and said, yes, this is good to go, and then they didn’t cancel them for seven hours,” said Aiello, “so I’m wondering where the obvious error was.”

What would the correct odds have been? Aiello never got an answer about that, and neither did Benton.

“They said because of their mistake, they could do whatever they wanted to,” Benton said.

Benton took his story public, speaking to Washington, D.C. CBS affiliate WUSA-TV. A few weeks after the broadcast, a BetMGM lawyer called.

The lawyer said, “We’ve decided to pay your bets out in full,” Benton said.

What changed? CBS News Chicago asked BetMGM multiple times about both “obvious error” cases, but never got a straight answer.

CBS News Chicago did learn that the company and other sports betting operators do have to explain “obvious errors” to the Illinois Gaming Board if a customer files a complaint — which Aiello did.

“I was really surprised to see that this has happened to other people,” Aiello said.

As he waits for the state to investigate, Aiello is toying with the idea of giving up sports betting for good — because this has all taken the fun out of it.

“There’s no point anymore,” Aiello said.

BetMGM said it submitted a complete report on Aiello’s bets to regulators. The gambling giant refused to tell CBS News Chicago anything about why Aiello’s bets got canceled.

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