Single Mom Reveals William Hill Compensated Her £1M Jackpot “Glitch” With £39 Offer

After going public, the single mother whose £1 million jackpot win was voided due to a technical “glitch” revealed the “offer” William Hill made to her. When Claire Ainsley used the mobile app to place bets on the Jackpot Drop game, she was shocked to see that her bet had won seven figures.

Like any of us, Claire thought she had won a sum of money that would change her life and started making plans to provide her kids a “better life” with a new house, savings, and a holiday. However, Claire’s hopes were dashed a few days later when William Hill told her that the money had been awarded mistakenly because of a game fault.

It makes sense that Claire was heartbroken by the news; in an interview with Good Morning Britain, she said she was “gutted” by how things turned out. "Me and my children aren't going to get anything. I was gutted, really gutted," she posted an update on social media.

Claire has now given a new update on the story following her appearance on the morning show, stating that William Hill has since contacted her to offer her a £39 reimbursement. The mother explained that she had gotten the offer after complaining to higher-ups.

"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,” the mother said.

Claire continued by speaking about how the circumstance has affected her mental health, stating, "It's really depressing. I struggle with my mental health as it is, and it has taken a toll on me really badly at the moment."

She also shared a screenshot of her account homepage, which revealed that although her account balance was £0, she had generated a profit of £1.2 million. "You think you've got a miracle and then this,” she said.

John Riding told the BBC that he had a heart attack after the bookies cancelled his £285k winnings. Turns out, Claire is not the first person to claim that William Hill has refused to pay out jackpot winners. "It just absolutely destroyed me, and I just went off balance and had a resulting heart attack," he stated.

Gemma Bradle, meanwhile, claims to have encountered a similar circumstance to Claire’s, stating that she was required to reimburse £33,000 of a £47,182 windfall she had earned through the Jackpot Drop feature of the app. "I’m absolutely gutted. I haven’t been sleeping properly," she said regarding the incident.

William Hill’s owner, Evoke, responded to Claire’s accusations by saying the following 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.”

They added, “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.”

Lawyer Ayesha Nayyar addressed Claire’s situation on GMB, stating that the terms and conditions that customers sign prior to playing often “protect” betting companies in these circumstances.

"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 stated.

"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."