Latest news with #CorrineDurber
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Yahoo
She thought she'd won $1.4 million. They tried to pay just $26,000 — but she didn't take no for an answer
A British woman has won a legal case against a bookmaker over an unpaid million-dollar prize. Corrine Durber initially won a $1.4 million jackpot but was later paid a lower prize of $26,000. She took gambling firm Paddy Power to court and this week was awarded the full prize money. A woman from the UK who was told on a gambling game that she had won over $1.4 million but was only given $26,000 has won a legal challenge against the betting firm. In October 2020, Corrine Durber placed a bet on the online platform of Irish gambling firm Paddy Power. The game, Wild Hatter, was a combination of fruit machine reels and a wheel of fortune, documents from the court case said. Durber, who lives in Gloucestershire in southwest England, said she was playing the game on her iPad when she won a jackpot prize in its first stage and was moved to the next level. Per court documents, she was then asked to spin the jackpot wheel. After clicking the "spin" button, Durber was informed she had won the "Monster Jackpot" of £1,097,132.71 ($1,416,000). Instead, she was paid £20,265.14 ($26,160) by Paddy Power, the amount due if Durber had won the 'Daily Jackpot' instead. The case, which reached the UK's High Court, said that no explanation was provided for why the sum changed to a much smaller figure. Durber complained to the gambling company on the same evening she won, the case said. At the time, Paddy Power said the computer system that ran the game had made a mistake and displayed an incorrect figure. Paddy Power said she should have won a 'Daily Jackpot,' but because of the programming issue, the 'Monster System' segment lit up. Durber sued PPB Entertainment, which trades as Paddy Power and Betfair, for the money she was due under the terms of a consumer contract and breach of contract. In his ruling earlier this week, High Court judge Justice Andrew Ritchie said: "When a trader puts all the risk on a consumer for its own recklessness, negligence, errors, inadequate digital services and inadequate testing, that appears onerous to me." Speaking to PA Media after the decision, Durber said: "As you can imagine, I'm so relieved and happy that the judge has confirmed I fairly and squarely won £1 million from Paddy Power." "I will never bet with them ever again," she said. Flutter UKI, which owns Paddy Power, told Business Insider in a statement: "Every week, tens of thousands of customers win with Paddy Power, including an individual who received a £5.7m jackpot just one year ago. "We always strive to provide the best customer experience possible and pride ourselves on fairness. "We deeply regret this unfortunate case and are reviewing the judgment." Read the original article on Business Insider
The Independent
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Woman wins £1m court case against Paddy Power over jackpot error
Gloucestershire woman Corrine Durber has won a High Court case against Paddy Power after being paid only £20,265 of a £1 million jackpot she won on its online game, Wild Hatter. The discrepancy arose from a software error that displayed the incorrect prize amount, though the random number generator assigned her the smaller daily jackpot. The judge ruled in Ms Durber's favor, stating that the game's presentation implied "what you see is what you get", and customers expect accurate displays of winnings. Paddy Power, which must pay Ms Durber the full £1 million, admitted to the error affecting multiple plays over several weeks and expressed regret over the incident. Ms Durber expressed relief at the ruling, but criticised Paddy Power for the ordeal and said she would never use their services again.
The Independent
05-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Gardener wins High Court case over £1 million Paddy Power payout
A gardener who was told she had won more than £1 million from an online Paddy Power game but was only paid around £20,000 has won a High Court case over her winnings. Corrine Durber, from Gloucestershire, played the Wild Hatter game in October 2020 which was described as a combination of a fruit machine and a wheel of fortune style game with two parts. After moving to the second part and spinning the jackpot wheel, Mrs Durber's iPad Screen displayed she had won the 'Monster Jackpot', which was stated as £1,097,132.71 on the day she played. However, she was only paid £20,265.14 and told she had won the smaller 'Daily Jackpot', with the difference attributed to an error with the game's display as it had been mal-programmed and pointed to the wrong prize. Mrs Durber sued PPB Entertainment Limited, which trades as Paddy Power and Betfair, for breach of contract and for the rest of her winnings, based on what she was shown on screen. And in a judgment on Wednesday, Mr Justice Ritchie granted summary judgment in her favour, meaning she won her case without a trial. PPB had said that the outcome was determined by a random number generator, which had said she had only won the daily jackpot, but an error affected the animations of the game and showed her the wrong result. Mr Justice Ritchie said that the idea of 'what you see is what you get' was 'central' to the game. He continued in a 62-page ruling: 'Objectively, customers would want and expect that what was to be shown to them on screen to be accurate and correct. 'The same expectation probably applies when customers go into a physical casino and play roulette. 'They expect the house to pay out on the roulette wheel if they bet on number 13 and the ball lands on number 13.' The judge found that the result from the random number generator was different from the result on screen due to human error in mapping the software, which had affected 14 plays over 48 days. He also said: 'When a trader puts all the risk on a consumer for its own recklessness, negligence, errors, inadequate digital services and inadequate testing, that appears onerous to me.' Mrs Durber said after the decision: 'As you can imagine, I'm so relieved and happy that the judge has confirmed I fairly and squarely won £1 million from Paddy Power. 'But why couldn't Paddy Power pay-up straight away instead of putting me through this legal torment? 'I will never bet with them ever again, and I advise others to be very careful too.' She added that Paddy Power had 'tried their very best to deny me my rightful winnings'. 'What's the point in betting if betting companies like Paddy Power won't pay-up when someone wins a big jackpot?' Following the ruling, a spokesperson for Flutter UKI, which owns Paddy Power, said: 'Every week tens of thousands of customers win with Paddy Power, including an individual who received a £5.7 million jackpot just one year ago. 'We always strive to provide the best customer experience possible and pride ourselves on fairness. 'We deeply regret this unfortunate case and are reviewing the judgment.'
