Woman ordered to pay back £33,000 after winning jackpot in online game that 'glitched'

Gemma Bradley, 47, of Wakefield, was ‘crying with happiness’ and planned to pay off her mortgage after thinking she had won big on William Hill’s Jackpot Drop game last Monday (Picture: Tom Maddick / SWNS) A woman ordered to pay back £33,000 she won in an online casino game says she has been left ‘absolutely gutted’. Gemma Bradley was one of an unknown number of customers told to pay her jackpot back after William Hill said their apparent wins on Monday March 16 were due to a glitch. The bookie is understood to be negotiating with tens of thousands of customers after ‘unintended jackpot behaviour’ led to ‘incorrect payouts’ being made over a 40-minute period that morning. Gemma, 47, was ‘crying with happiness’ and planned to pay off her mortgage after thinking she had won big on the Jackpot Drop game. The jubilant care assistant from Wakefield, Yorkshire withdrew £33,000 of the £47,182 winnings into her bank account. But her celebrations were short-lived after the company contacted her to demand the cash back the next day – claiming a technical issue had besieged the game. An Incident Report apparently sent out by William Hill states there were 35,072 jackpot ‘hits’ during the glitch compared to 518 over the same period a week before (Picture: Tom Maddick / SWNS) Gemma, who is now seeking help from gambling adjudicators, said: ‘I’m absolutely gutted. I haven’t been sleeping properly. ‘It’s all I’ve been thinking about since Monday.’ An Incident Report apparently sent out by William Hill states there were 35,072 jackpot ‘hits’ during the glitch compared to 518 over the same period a week before. Players took to social media to tell how their ‘winnings’ of up to £200,000 had been swiped away from them. Many say they were still toasting their lucky wins when they discovered their online betting accounts were locked. Those affected are understood to have received ‘settlement agreements’ offering 11 per cent of the winnings issued by mistake if they pay it back within three days – but many have opted to dispute the issue. More gamblers are believed to have been affected by the issue with Gemma and her 69-year-old mum Ann, who share a home, were preparing to put the stress of mortgage payments behind them as they celebrated on Monday. Ann Bradley, mum with Gemma Bradley, 47, of Wakefield (Credits: Tom Maddick / SWNS) Gemma said: ‘We were crying with happiness. ‘I’m 42 and I was under the impression that my mortgage was going to be paid off and my mum could enjoy her retirement a lot more.’ She withdrew £33,000 – the limit for a debit card – immediately and planned to take the rest out the next day. But when she tried to do just that, she could not access her William Hill account – and that evening a representative called to explain the mistake and demand the £33,000 back. ‘They said it was an issue at their end so I’d have to pay it back and that I wouldn’t be able to withdraw the rest of the funds’, she added. ‘It’s a good job I didn’t book a holiday or something like that. ‘What if it’s happened to someone who’s gone out and bought a car? I was quite sensible but it did get my hopes up.’ Another man – who asked not to be named – said he and his wife had planned to clear £30,000 worth of debt after the ‘life-changing’ triumph. He said his wife – who already suffered from depression – had been unable to get out of bed since she woke him in the middle of the night to announce ‘the money’s gone’. Gemma insists the glitch was ‘not my fault’ but says she will pay the money back if she has to (Picture: Tom Maddick / SWNS) William Hill’s terms and conditions outline that they can withhold winnings or ask for them to be returned in the case of technical errors. Gemma insists the glitch was ‘not my fault’ but says she will pay the money back if she has to. A William Hill spokesman said: ‘During a routine review of platform activity, we identified an issue affecting the Jackpot Drop game which 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 error, and – in certain cases – organise the return of the funds in line with our standard terms and conditions.’ Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.