A British woman anxiously awaits the verdict of a judge, which will determine if she has won either £10 (US$12.30) or £1 million (US$1.2 million) on an online lottery scratch-off game. Joan Parker-Grennan, from Boston, Lincolnshire, has taken UK National Lottery provider Camelot to London’s High Court in April last year in pursuit of the £1 million prize she believes she rightfully won when playing the “£20Million Online Spectacular” game on the lottery’s website in August 2015.
It was then that the 54-year-old bookkeeper matched two number 15s to win £10 and proceeded to match two 1s, which would typically equate to a $1 million payout. This was further reinforced by a digital animation congratulating her for hitting it big. Nevertheless, Camelot insists that the computer system had predetermined the prize to be £10 at the time of purchase, and the animation was simply for entertainment purposes. The operator adds that the system malfunctioned, causing the matching 1s to appear erroneously.
In response to Parker-Grennan’s lawsuit, Philip Hinks, the barrister representing Camelot, argued in a written argument that there was “at the lowest, a real prospect of Camelot successfully defending the claim at trial.” He went on to state that “It is inappropriate for the claim to be determined summarily,” and that Camelot is only liable to pay the “outcome of the ticket as predetermined” by the computer system.
Historically, plaintiffs have not been successful in these types of cases due to the phrase “void all pays and plays” being found on every Las Vegas slot machine. However, in April 2021, Andrew Green, another 50-something from Lincolnshire, won a three-year legal battle against Betfred after the malfunction of a slot machine mistakenly awarded him a £1.7 million (US$2 million) jackpot. The High Court ruled that Betfred Casino’s terms and conditions did not protect it from liability.
Joan Parker-Grennan now awaits the judge’s decision on whether her claim for a £1 million prize from the £20Million Online Spectacular game is valid.
