Punter fumes as bookie refuses to payout €17k Euro 2016 winning bets... and instead offers €89

North Belfast man Riain Davey put £4 (€5) across three bets online on the Poland, Croatia and Germany opening games of the tournament on Sunday.

The bets were for the teams to win, the score lines and for them all not to concede.

And on Sunday the bets came home.

BoyleSports, however, have refused to payout the winnings.

They say that 22-year-old Riain should not have been able to place a bet based on the outcome of another bet and that there was an error with their systems in allowing him the flutter in the first place.

The company said it was a genuine error and - as per their own terms and conditions - they are not liable for bets that are made in error.

A spokesman said it was common industry practice.

Riain, however, has been left to rue what might have been.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: "Although they took my money, told me my potential returns were 1000s of pounds and let the bet run throughout the day, they decided it shouldn't have been allowed in the first place.

"I was surprised they gave me the option to do the bets as a treble, however it did.

"And on Sunday, I was stunned when they said they weren't going to pay out due to an error.

"They let the bet run, obviously thinking with such huge odds that it wouldn't win in the first place."

Riain, who would regularly bet on the football said he and a friend were planning to go to France to watch the Euros with the winnings.

Instead BoyleSports put £70.08 into Riain's account instead.

"I'm still just gutted at what's happened and lost for words," he added.

"And the fact they keep telling me it was an error and I won't be getting any further explanation is just ridiculous for a company to react like that."

A BoyleSports spokesman added: "Nobody has a better record of paying out to customers than BoyleSports.

"Although we cannot comment on individual cases we can say that like all bookmakers BoyleSports does not pay out on odds which are offered wrongly.

"When errors do occur BoyleSports engages with affected customers individually to resolve the issue fairly."