• 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.”