Camelot haven’t had an easy few weeks and some future court appearances may be on the way. One will feature Joan Parker-Grennan from Boston in Lincolnshire who expected her scratchcard win to be a lot more than a tenner.
Seven years ago, Joan was playing the £20Million Online Spectacular online slot game. It appeared that she’d won a £1 million prize but was in for a shock when trying to claim her fantastic win. Camelot told her that there had been a “technical issue” with the game.
The numbers on the top row of the scratchcard matched those below. Joan had matched two 15s and that won her £10. However, two others were matched and that was supposed to have made the scratchcard worth £1 million.
However, Camelot told her that the software had behaved “erroneously” when Joan got her win. The numbers that she believed had made her a millionaire were in the wrong boxes. Her win was in fact just £10! The day after the claim was made, the game was taken offline.
There have been arguments ever since being told that. A legal claim was launched by Joan last yea and now it appears the case will be heading for the High Court. The claim will be for “monies due under the terms of a consumer contract between the parties and/or damages for breach of a consumer contract”.
The 53-year-old says that an offer has been made by her solicitors to Camelot to settle the case out of court. A sum of between £700,00 and £900,000 would be received by the unhappy scratchcard player.
If Joan does receive her winnings, she wants to make some investments, help others and get a kitchen island.
It’s one of a few problems that have beset Camelot in recent weeks. They discovered last month that in 2024 they will no longer be the licence holders for the National Lottery. The Gambling Commission announced that Allwyn were their first choice for the new license and will take over running the National Lottery in two years.
Camelot have announced that they will be seeking a judicial review of the decision. They believe that the Gambling Commission have “got this decision badly wrong” and were shocked by “aspects of the decision.”
Nigel Railton is the chief executive of Camelot. He is upset over the Gambling Commission not providing “a satisfactory response” when Camelot challenged their decision. This, he says has left the company with no choice but to take the matter to court to “establish what happened.”
March also saw Camelot fined £3.15 million by the Gambling Commission. This was made after several problems with the Camelot app. One problem saw players being told they had lost when in fact they had been winners.
