UK bookmakers Coral are being forced to defend their refusal to pay out a Scottish punter’s winning futures bet on Glasgow Rangers FC being forced to exit the country’s top football division.

In September 2011, former bookie Albert Kinloch (pictured) popped into a Coral betting shop in Glasgow and placed a £100 wager at 2500:1 odds that Rangers would be relegated. At the time, Rangers were sitting in second place in the Scottish Premier League, and Kinloch said the betting operator accepted his wager after the cashier confirmed with Coral’s head office.

Five months later, the Scottish club was forced into administration after running up tax bills it couldn’t pay. The club underwent an ownership change and a dramatically altered player lineup and was forced to play the following season in the Scottish Third Division.

Kinloch believed he was due for a £250k payday but Coral claimed Rangers hadn’t really been relegated, at least, not as Coral defined relegation. Kinloch lawyered up and the matter headed to the Court of Session in Edinburgh this week.