Man, 76, had heart attack after William Hill refused to pay out £285k jackpot
A 76-year-old grandad has told how he suffered a heart attack after William Hill refused to pay out his huge cash prize.
John Riding, from Burnley, said he was 'absolutely destroyed' after the bookmaker told him they wouldn't honour his £285,000 win - as they alleged that it was the result of a technical glitch.
The pensioner is just one of hundreds of people who claim their hefty windfalls have been wiped from their online betting accounts.
Mum-of-two Claire Ainsley has lost out on a whopping £1million payday after William Hill said the 'funds were erroneously credited', leaving her 'gutted'.
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And another punter, Gemma Bradley, has been ordered to pay back the £33,000 she won on the gambling app due to the same supposed glitch.
According to the Racing Post, there are more than 100 customers who have been informed their accounts were wrongly credited.
In John's case, he had been playing the William Hill Vegas casino game titled 'Cherry Bonanza' on his phone for just 10p per spin when he seemingly struck gold on 16 March.
The father-of-two said it 'felt like a dream' when he saw his £285,700 jackpot appear on screen, so he headed to his local William Hill branch in Burnley to confirm it.
"They checked my account for me and told me I'd won that money," John previously told the Mirror. "I was celebrating with the other customers.
"I've never felt such joy. I couldn't wait to tell my son and daughter. I told them: 'I've got some life-changing news!'"
He explained he was over the moon that he could 'take away money worries' for his nearest and dearest, while he began mentally mapping out how he would spend the cash.
John said he intended to take his family on an epic holiday, purchase his granddaughter a car and move closer to his children.
But his grand plans went kaput just 24 hours later, as he realised that his £285,700 win had disappeared from his William Hill account, leaving him 'devastated'.
"It was like my dreams had been shattered into pieces," he said. "I never got formally told that it was an error, just that they'd made a ‘manual adjustment’.
'It absolutely destroyed me'
"The £285,000 was no longer in my account but the message is - that I am £285,000 up this month," John said.
He spent the following week attempting to remedy the issue with the betting firm, but claimed he didn't get anywhere.
William Hill then emailed him to inform him they had taken the winnings back and added £15.40 to his account, which John's son Adam suspects was 'like some kind of refund', the BBC reported.
Adam added: "That's bizarre, because what is that money for? If no win happened, why did they put that back in the account?"
Ten days after his six-figure win, John explained that he began to 'feel really unwell' - and was rushed to hospital after suffering from a heart attack.
He claimed that chasing up the issue with William Hill had cause him 'massive amounts of stress', while then pointing out that he is not overweight, doesn't smoke or drink and that his arteries weren't blocked.
"When you're ecstatic and then you get flattened, it's like being hit with a sledgehammer because your mind goes berserk," John said. "It just absolutely destroyed me and I just went off balance and had a resulting heart attack."
"The shock of that has been unbearable," his son Adam also chimed in saying. "It’s not just about the money, it’s the way it’s been handled. It feels like a real injustice, and the stress of it has had a serious impact on his health."
John subsequently spent a week under the care of 'absolutely wonderful' staff at Royal Blackburn Hospital after having a heart attack.
A spokesperson for Evoke, which owns William Hill, said the firm was 'very sorry to hear about Mr Riding’s condition' and wished him 'a very speedy recovery'.
"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," the company said in a statement.
"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."
John said he wanted William Hill to 'have some sort of moral compass and sort this thing out amicably and honour the win', adding: "They can't just ignore it and say tough luck, and there's an admission of it being won, because it went into my account." LADbible has contacted Evoke for further comment.
Olivia Burke