Coral free bet query

[Outofluck]

I'm not an experienced gambler, and I would be grateful if someone can tell me whether the following payout from Coral seems right.

I was given a £1 free bet (so stake not returned) to use and placed it each way (50p unit stake) on a horse that went off at odds of 13/2, with one-fifth place odds. The horse placed.

Coral seem to have worked out the return as follows: standard bet of this type would return £1.15 including the initial stake, so knock off the non-returnable £1 free bet and the return is just £0.15.

To me, this seems incorrect. I would have thought that it should be treated as the "win" part of the bet losing, and the "place" part winning and returning £0.65 (no stake returned).

The Coral method is illogical to me because it can actually mean that you lose money by placing a winning "place" bet. eg/ £1 each way bet (50p unit stake) on a 4/1 horse that places returns £0.90 normally. But using the Coral method for free bets, knock off the non-returnable £1 stake and you owe them 10p! 

Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something here? Is this method standard across the industry? I know it's only a small amount of money, but if this is Coral's typical methodology, then I feel like it needs challenging.

Thanks

 

[harry_rag]

Well, a couple of things are beyond my comprehension here. Why would anyone go to the trouble of registering on a forum to post a query about a bet where the amount at issue is 50P!  I'll extend a cautious  to the forum in the hope that it's not been done with a view to getting established and then spamming in some way (no offence but seen it before). Also, it seems bonkers to use a £1 free bet e/w on a 13/2 shot. Might as well have gone win only on something at decent odds. As it is, your expected return might buy you a bag of crisps if you're lucky.

That said, I'd agree with your take on the correct settlement. The 50p win bet was lost, the 50p place bet would normally return £1.15 so should be 65p given you don't get the stake back. That's what I would logically expect to happen unless something in their rules expressly states otherwise.

So now you can go back and challenge them backed up by the opinion of someone on the internet, though if you tell them it's me you should be fine! 

Let us know how you get on.