A software glitch on BetOnline led to three players receiving life-changing payouts after the online platform ultimately decided to award a massive $350,000 bad beat jackpot. The story first came to light on Twitter when one of the affected users vented about an apparent software jam which saw his winning hand being auto-folded.
Straight Flush Auto-Folded
Devowned was playing a $0.50/$1 six-max cash game on BetOnline when the incident happened. He was initially involved in a three-way pot, picking up a straight flush draw on a paired board. Devowned called a bet and his two opponents proceeded to the turn, and when one of them was leading into him, the software suddenly malfunctioned, leaving him unable to click any buttons.
While this was happening, the clock was still timing down and Devowned was eventually timed out, with his hand automatically folded. This is quite ridiculous as nobody, in their right mind, would fold with a straight flush! Even so, the glitch wouldn’t have much of an impact for Devowned, if he only lost around $200 as a result of the software jam.
However, when he witnessed the two remaining players battling it out all-in with quads and a full house, he knew he could have triggered a bad beat jackpot which could have entitled him to a significant bankroll boost. Devowned shared his experience on Twitter with a recorded video of the software jam.
His post attracted attention on social media, and had also been widely discussed at the popular TwoPlusTwo forum. Joey Ingram, who has always loved investigating anomalies at the tables (check out his in-depth review of the Mike Postle cheating scandal), was also left puzzled on the timing of the software glitch. A thread on TwoPlusTwo forum about Devowned’s experience invited a lot of conspiracy theories.
Devowned contacted BetOnline about his situation, but a representative from the online platform initially indicated in their response that they couldn’t do something about it, as their software developers were not able to identify any connection issue affecting other customers when Devowned was experiencing his disconnection.
Glitch Intentional?
While the poker community waited for BetOnline’s final decision on the matter, conspiracy theories were all over the TwoPlusTwo thread, implying that a “rogue employee” could have intentionally cut Devowned out of the game knowing that his hand was about to hit a bad beat jackpot.
These theories usually come out especially when large sums of money are involved and operators tend to turn a blind eye on the potential anomalies going on behind the scenes. During instances like these, when gambling websites choose not to care, the players are the ones who ultimately suffer. However this time, BetOnline made an unconventional decision.
Doing The Right Thing
The online operator ultimately decided to award the 350K jackpot after a lengthy discussion on Twitter. As a result, Devowned got $53,532 for his winning hand, while the remaining amount has been divided between his two opponents, one of whom is poised to receive more than $100K.
The representative from BetOnline also said on Twitter that the $350K being awarded to Devowned and the other two players came from the operator’s own pocket, meaning the current bad beat jackpot still remains. The representative said they cannot touch the jackpot unless it’s triggered by the system, and in Devowned’s case, the jackpot had not been triggered due to the software glitch.
A bad beat jackpot is a popular attraction in poker rooms, both live and online, where an amount of money is paid out to players in the event that a very strong hand ends up losing to another hand. The normal requirement is that the losing hand must be at least Quad Eights for the jackpot to be hit.
Many praised BetOnline for settling the issue the nicest way possible. This goes to show that some gambling websites still value integrity and customer satisfaction over profits.