A Coral punter who backed Rangers to be relegated in 2011 has lost his claim against the bookie.
Albert Kinloch put a bet of £100 on Rangers being relegated at 250/1 and expected to collect £250,000.
At a hearing in January all sorts of verbal gymnastics were performed to avoid using the L word that might offend some people. Liquidation.
Representatives from Coral, the SPFL and gambling experts were called to give evidence on a case that was actually very straightforward.
When Rangers went into liquidation in June 2012 they disappeared off the face of the earth in the same way as Third Lanark did in 1967 and Gretna in 2008.
With the assets sold to Charles Green for a knock-down £5.5m fee the Scottish Football League provided the new club with a place in their bottom tier, Third Division.
For whatever reasons Companies House allowed Sevco 5088 to change their name to Sevco Scotland then on to The Rangers International Football Club which has given rise to the big lie that a club was relegated from the SPL down to the Third Division.
Subsequent comments from the SPL, SFA and SPFL have attempted to create the image that the tribute act has a direct unbroken line through to the club that died in 2012.
After a lengthy explanation the Scots Courts website arrived at the following conclusion:
[210] In summary, for the foregoing reasons, I am persuaded that the sound construction is that contended for by the defenders. Accordingly, on this construction of the pursuer’s bet it is a losing bet.
Elsewhere today the Supreme Court sat to hear the final appeal in The Big Tax Case as BDO attempted to justify over a decade of tax scamming orchestrated by Sir David Murray.
Presenting the case for BDO, Andrew Thornhill QC claimed that the tax liability falls on the individual players and coaches rather than being added to the debt left by the club in liquidation.
Lord Bannatyne on what happened to RFC in 2012 pic.twitter.com/zjekY8i5dz
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) March 15, 2017
