William Hill Jackpot Blunder Hospitalizes UK Player After £285K Win Reversal
Posted on: April 5, 2026, 06:29h.
Last updated on: April 5, 2026, 06:29h.
- UK player claims £285K jackpot glitch triggered heart attack
- Thousands of William Hill and 888 players hit by payout error
- Operator seeks refunds after software glitch freezes massive winnings
A British man who was led to believe he had won £285K while playing a William Hill online slot only to be told he would receive just £15.40 says the stress of the situation caused a heart attack.
John Riding, 76, was one of around 35K William Hill and 888 players to have received erroneous payouts in March from the Jackpot Drop game, a progressive slot-style game that “drops” jackpots at random. Both brands are owned by Evoke Plc, formerly 888 Holdings.
Evoke said these were the result of a software glitch, and it froze player accounts. The company is asking players who withdrew funds prior to the freeze to return them, allowing them to retain 11% of withdrawn funds as “compensation.”
‘Absolutely Destroyed’
Riding, from Burnley, England, told the BBC the £285K was deposited in his betting account after he appeared to hit the jackpot on March 12. But when he tried to withdraw some of the funds, he realized he’d been blocked.
He said he spent several days trying to find a customer service representative who could explain what had happened, with little success. He claimed the experience “absolutely destroyed” him.
After several days of not being able to talk to anybody – not being able to get anything resolved whatsoever – I came up to bed and felt really unwell, which resulted in an admission to hospital via ambulance with a heart attack,” he explained.
Riding spent 18 hours in a resuscitation ward and almost a week in the hospital. At times, his family said they thought he would not pull through.
Blunder is Massive
In mid-March, numerous people began reporting on social media that they had received jackpots that had been frozen by William Hill and 888, often claiming these were six-figure sums. One Casino.org reader claimed to have “won” $1.26 million.
An incident report from the operator said 35,072 online slot jackpots had been paid out during the alleged malfunction, compared with just 518 over the equivalent period a week earlier. This suggests the erroneous payouts ran into the tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds.
Lawyer Paul Kanolik, of Ellis Jones Solicitors, told the BBC he had been approached by numerous people in similar situations and was “looking at pursuing claims in relation to these issues, potentially on a group action basis.”
“William Hill/888 Casino are seeking to rely on their terms and conditions in voiding jackpot wins and in clawing back monies from customers who have been paid out,” he said.
“The case law shows that a betting operator may not always be able to rely on their terms and conditions in such circumstances.”
William Hill said it was “very sorry to hear about Mr. Riding’s condition” and wished him “a very speedy recovery.”
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