Lottery operator Camelot has another date in court for their diary.
They are being sued by a 53-year-old who has been trying for SEVEN years to convince her to pay up the £1 million she believes she is owed from a scratchcard ‘win’.
Joan Parker-Grennan purchased a card for the £20 Million Online Spectacular game back in 2015, and was understandably overjoyed when she scratched off the panels to reveal a £1 million win.
But when she contacted Camelot to claim her prize, Parker-Grennan was told that a technical ‘glitch’ had occurred, and they would not be settling up.
The operator told her that an error in the printing of the scratchcard had displayed numbers in the wrong boxes, and that the payout they would be willing to make was just £10.
Having contacted legal professionals, Joan has been trying for the best part of the last decade to get Camelot to pay up – even offering them the chance to settle for a lower sum.
“My solicitors have already offered them the chance to settle and pay £700,000, £800,000 or £900,000,” she confirmed.
“They took the game offline within a day of me making the claim. They told me in an email it was a glitch.”
In response, Camelot have confirmed the technical error, claiming that ‘a very small number of National Lottery players had a problem when playing the £20Million Cash Spectacular online instant win game, relating to how the game animation displayed.’
“The outcome of every National Lottery instant win game is pre-determined at time of purchase, and the animation is purely for entertainment purposes,” a spokesperson has stated. “The game had been on sale less than 12 hours when we became aware of the issue and immediately disabled it.”
A pre-trial hearing has been set for June, and will come just a matter of months after Camelot were fined more than £3 million by the UK Gambling Commission in March for a series of ‘technical glitches’ on their mobile app.
Legal Eagles
Whatever firm of solicitors that Camelot have on contract are being put through their paces right now.
As well as battling this scratchcard lawsuit, the firm is also planning to take the Gambling Commission to the High Court over their decision to nominate Allwyn as their preferred bidder for the National Lottery licence – previously held by Camelot for nearly 30 years.
The operator believes that the regulator made errors in the point-scoring system that ultimately favoured Allwyn, and they plan to have the decision overturned.
The Commission has finally broken their silence on the matter, and have reiterated their belief that they have made the correct judgement.
“The competition and our evaluation have been carried out fairly and lawfully in accordance with our statutory duties, and we are confident that a court would come to that conclusion,” they have revealed in a statement to the press.
“We have taken every step possible to ensure a level playing field for all interested parties, to enable us to appoint a licensee who will engage and protect players, run the National Lottery with integrity and ensure the National Lottery continues to support good causes and their contribution to society.”
A date for this court battle has yet to be decided.