Court case over computer error comes to a close
By Kate Northrop
A UK woman who sued Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery, was told by a judge that her lottery prize was worth £10, not £1 million.
Lottery player Joan Parker-Grennan, who went head-to-head with National Lottery operator Camelot in a court battle, will not be walking away with the £1 million prize she thought she was owed.
Last week, Parker-Grennan was locked in a court battle over whether her online lottery prize was worth £1 million. Camelot disputed her claim, saying that she only won £10.
On Aug. 25, 2015, Parker-Grennan bought an Instant Win Game ticket and matched two sets of numbers in the "Your Numbers" and "Winning Numbers" section of the virtual ticket. According to game rules, a player wins a prize "designated by those matching numbers."
In this case, she saw one set of numbers indicating a £10 prize, and then another set indicating a £1 million prize.
However, Camelot attorneys attributed the occurrence to a "technical issue" that caused a number with a designated prize of £1 million to be highlighted and that only the numbers showing a £10 prize were valid.
This week, a judge ruled that she was not entitled to £1 million and had instead won only £10.
According to Camelot, between Aug. 25 and 26 in 2015 "at the point" she bought her ticket, their computer system had experienced a "technical" issue that caused "different graphical animations" to show on the screen that resulted in Parker-Grennan seeing an additional set of matching numbers with a designated prize of £1 million in addition to the ones indicating her £10 prize.
Camelot's reasoning, Barrister Philip Hinks said on behalf of the operator, is that the result of the game was predetermined at the time Parker-Grennan purchased her online ticket and prior to the game displaying its animation. The operator was liable to pay only the "outcome of the ticket as predetermined" by the computer system," Hinks reasoned.
Although the High Court hearing in London did not conclude with a result in favor of Parker-Grennan, Barrister James Couser, her representation, had said there was "no real prospect of [Camelot's] claim being successfully defended."
Check out our latest video for our thoughts on the final decision.
WATCH: UK woman who sued Camelot for £1 million lottery prize loses case
Sometimes courts make really bad decisions.........this was one of the worst. The judge should have compromised, if he was not going to award a million pounds, he could have awarded Parker-Grennon a substantial amount to insure that something like this does not happen again. With this decision he is telling Camelot they do not have to pay for their mistakes, just hire good lawyers.
PS.......Thanks for the prompt update, Kate.
* Yeah, they should have paid her the money. Very professional coverage there Kate. None of the " aah, umm" verbiage thrown into the explanation. Excellent, well done. 👏
If everyone boycotts the lottery until this woman gets paid, I think they would change Thier mind. If they gave her the royal screw job, they could screw everyone. So everyone should boycott the lottery.
Why should she be paid when her ticket was not a winner (of the larger prize)?
imagine,
You win a jackpot and someone claims that they also won (because of technical issues displaying an incorrect result as per this case.)
.. will you be happy to share your jackpot 50-50 with that person? Or would you rather get the full value to which you are entitled because the other person didn't have the right numbers...
I tell you what, the Gambling Commission is going to have a field day fining Camelot when they release charges that they are placing on them with this case of fraud included.
They paid her the £10 she actually won.