Horse Racing Ireland faces a six-figure damages claim related to keeping £100,000 punts in winnings from an on-track bookie and not telling him.
Denis Carey, from Co. Meath, is hoping to take Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to the High Court claiming that they held a £100,000 prize bond win in his name, back in 1995, and never told him about the cash.
The HRI was formally called the Racing Board and Irish Horseracing Authority. According to the Irish Examiner the details of the money didn’t surface until 2005 when rumours of the prize bond win surfaced in the racing community.
Both Mr Carey and the HRI filed affidavits last year but the case is still yet to be heard. If the HRI loses the case, they will be expected to pay out compensation on the lost earnings the money could have accumulated in savings as well as the cash itself.
Mr Carey, along with all the other on-track bookies in the 70s, was allocated prize bonds, which he was obliged to pay for as a type of insurance in case a bookie didn’t pay the board’s levies.
The bonds won the substantial amount in 1995 but Mr Carey never saw a penny of it. Reports are suggesting that Mr Carey had a £1,000 debt with the HRI and that he used the bond to pay this off. The rest of the £99,000 was pooled in the board’s racing funds.
According to the HRI, records of the alleged money ‘resting in the bank account’ do not exist any longer. They did, however, say that Mr Carey ceased trading as a bookie several years before the bond came through in 1995. Mr Carey states he has documents proving he was officially recorded as a permit holder up until 2003.
The case continues.
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