Corrine Durber was left ‘very upset’ at the bookmaker who she said had ‘tried their very best to deny me my rightful winnings’ after she was told she had won more than £1 million
A Gloucestershire gardener is celebrating a massive win after a High Court ruling awarded her over £1 million in prize money from an online Paddy Power game, which had initially paid her just around £20,000. Corrine Durber played the Wild Hatter game in October 2020 and thought she’d hit the “Monster Jackpot” when her iPad screen displayed a whopping £1,097,132.71.
Yet, she was told she had only won the smaller “Daily Jackpot” due to a game glitch showing incorrect results. Taking PPB Entertainment Limited to court, which operates Paddy Power and Betfair, for breach of contract, Mrs Durber claimed the full jackpot amount.
This Wednesday, Mr Justice Ritchie handed down summary judgment in Mrs Durber’s favour, sparing her the need for a trial. Despite PPB’s claim that a random number generator determined the lesser pay-out and incorrect animations were to blame for the confusion, Mr Justice Ritchie underscored that players expect ‘what you see is what you get’ to be central to such gaming experiences.
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In a detailed 62-page ruling, the judge stated: “Objectively, customers would want and expect that what was to be shown to them on screen to be accurate and correct.”
He added, “The same expectation probably applies when customers go into a physical casino and play roulette. They expect the house to pay out on the roulette wheel if they bet on number 13 and the ball lands on number 13.”
The judge determined that due to human error in mapping the software, which affected 14 plays over 48 days, the result from the random number generator differed from what was displayed on screen. He further commented: “When a trader puts all the risk on a consumer for its own recklessness, negligence, errors, inadequate digital services and inadequate testing, that appears onerous to me.”
Mrs Durber expressed her relief and satisfaction with the outcome, saying: “As you can imagine, I’m so relieved and happy that the judge has confirmed I fairly and squarely won £1 million from Paddy Power.”
She questioned Paddy Power’s reluctance to pay promptly, asking, “But why couldn’t Paddy Power pay-up straight away instead of putting me through this legal torment?” and declared, “I will never bet with them ever again, and I advise others to be very careful too.”
She also accused Paddy Power of doing their utmost to withhold her rightful winnings, adding, “What’s the point in betting if betting companies like Paddy Power won’t pay-up when someone wins a big jackpot?”.
After the verdict, a representative for Flutter UKI, the parent company of Paddy Power, stated: “Every week tens of thousands of customers win with Paddy Power, including an individual who received a £5.7 million jackpot just one year ago.”
They added, “We always strive to provide the best customer experience possible and pride ourselves on fairness.”
Concluding, they said, “We deeply regret this unfortunate case and are reviewing the judgment.”