William Hill ‘made offer’ to woman after refusing to pay out £1 million winnings
The single mum whose £1 million jackpot win was voided by a technical 'glitch' has revealed the 'offer' William Hill made to her after going public.
When Claire Ainsley logged into the mobile app to place a bet on the Jackpot Drop game, she could not believe her eyes when her punt returned a seven-figure sum.
Like any of us, Claire believed she'd won a life-changing amount of money and began planning how she could provide a 'better life' for her children though a new home, savings and a holiday.
But Claire's dreams came crashing down just days later when William Hill informed that her the money had been incorrectly awarded due to an error with the game.
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Understandably, Claire was absolutely devastated by the news, revealing during an interview with Good Morning Britain that she was 'gutted' by the turn of events.
"Me and my children aren't going to get anything. I was gutted, really gutted," she said in an update on Facebook.
Following her appearance on the morning programme, Claire has now provided a new update on the saga, claiming that William Hill have since been in touch to offer her a £39 reimbursement.
Explaining that she'd received the offer after taking her complaint to higher-ups, the mum said: "I got an email back saying 'We'll give you £39'... they're just saying that so we don't go higher.
"They're just saying that because if we go higher it will look bad on the company."
Claire then went on to open up about the impact the situation has taken on her mental health, saying: "It's really depressing. I struggle with my mental health as it is and it has taken a toll really bad[ly] on me at the moment."
She also shared a screenshot of her account homepage, which showed that she had made a £1.2 million profit despite her account having a balance of £0.
"You think you've got a miracle and then this."
Claire isn't the only person to allege that William Hill have refused to pay out jackpot prizes, with 76-year-old John Riding revealing to the BBC that he suffered a heart attack after the bookies voided his £285k winnings.
"It just absolutely destroyed me and I just went off balance and had a resulting heart attack," he said.
Meanwhile Gemma Bradle has also claimed to have experienced a similar situation to Claire, saying she was ordered to pay back £33,000 of a £47,182 windfall she'd received on the app's Jackpot Drop feature.
"I’m absolutely gutted. I haven’t been sleeping properly," she said of the incident.
What has William Hill said?
Responding to Claire's allegations, Evoke, which owns William Hill, gave the following comment to LADbible: "During a routine review of platform activity, we identified an issue affecting the Jackpot Drop game which temporarily resulted in incorrect sums being credited to players’ balances and withdrawals being processed incorrectly.
"Whilst we quickly identified and resolved this issue, for a short period of time funds were erroneously credited to some customer accounts that were not correctly generated through valid or properly functioning gameplay.
"We have contacted relevant customers to clarify the issue, and are in the process of retrieving the funds in line with our standard terms and conditions.
"We have been grateful for our customers’ understanding on this matter and apologise for the inconvenience caused."
What are your rights if a betting shop refuses to cash out on a win?
Addressing Claire's situation on GMB, lawyer Ayesha Nayyar explained that betting firms are often 'protected' in these situations by terms and conditions customers sign before playing.
"The terms and conditions include a clause that says, if an error occurs or a malfunction occurs - whether that's via a software bug, computer error or even a human error - the betting company can void that play and not pay out," she said.
"That's exactly what happened. In this case, they're saying that the condition that would have triggered the jackpot wasn't actually triggered, and that's the reason why they're voiding play."
LADbible Group has approached William Hill for further comment.
Brenna Cooper