Linda Aldred, Grandmother Of British Olympian, Wins Long-Shot Bet, But Bookies Refuse To Pay

Bookies Stiff Grandma On Her Olympic Wager
Great Britain's gymnast Max Whitlock, bottom left, Daniel Purvis, top left, Sam Oldham, bottom right, and Louis Smith celebrate as their team is initially declared silver medalists during the Artistic Gymnastic men's team final at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 30, 2012, in London. Britain was initially announced as the silver medalist but Japan questioned the score of three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura on pommel horse, the team's very last routine. About five minutes later, Uchimura's score was revised and Japan was awarded the silver while Britain was bumped down to bronze. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Great Britain's gymnast Max Whitlock, bottom left, Daniel Purvis, top left, Sam Oldham, bottom right, and Louis Smith celebrate as their team is initially declared silver medalists during the Artistic Gymnastic men's team final at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 30, 2012, in London. Britain was initially announced as the silver medalist but Japan questioned the score of three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura on pommel horse, the team's very last routine. About five minutes later, Uchimura's score was revised and Japan was awarded the silver while Britain was bumped down to bronze. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

British grandmother Linda Aldred wasn't expecting to win any money when she placed a long-shot bet on her Olympic gymnast grandson, Sam Oldham.

The 66-year-old widow placed the £5 bet (about $8) in honor of her late husband Eric, a man who "loved a bet," according to the local Thanet Times.

No British gymnastic team has won a medal in artistic gymnastics in exactly 100 years, and the odds were 200-1 that the hometown boys would be able to break that streak and deliver during the games.

But Oldham did win. In fact, the 19-year-old went on to make history, as the squad from Great Britain thrilled the home crowd with a bronze-medal performance in the team competition.

But when Aldred returned to the Betfred shop to claim her £1,000 (about $1,600) purse, the bookmaker refused to pay out. The shop claimed the bet was void because Oldham had medaled as part of a team and not on his own.

Upon inspection, the winning betting slip seems to support Aldred's case, however. The wager seems to specify only that Oldham win a medal--any medal--and does not differentiate between team and individual events, Yahoo! notes.

Aldred has since taken the dispute to the The Independent Betting Adjudication Service, according to The Telegraph. A spokesman for IBAS told the paper that while they could not comment on individual cases, they had been handling a number of Olympic-related bets, which would "be dealt with through the normal procedures."

USA Today reports that it is not uncommon for British oddsmakers to take creative futures bets with long odds.

Either way, Aldred said she was very proud of her Olympian grandson. "It is more the principle than the money," she told the Thanet Times. "I could have used the winnings to pay for my ticket to see Sam at the 2016 Olympics in Rio."

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