Paddy Power loses High Court battle and must pay £1m instead of £20k

PA Media: Corrine Durber, with her husband Colin (left) and solicitor Peter Coyle (right) outside the High Court celebrating the live changing win

A High Court judge as of yesterday, 5 March, ordered British bookie Paddy Power to pay a gardener from Gloucestershire over £1m in winnings after refusing to pay out. 

Corrine Dubber, 62, was playing The Wild Hatter (Red Tiger Gaming) casino game when the screen appeared to show that she won a ‘Monster Jackpot’ worth £1,097,132.71.

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However, Paddy Power claimed that the game, which is a mix between a fruit machine and a wheel of fortune, showed an error and that Ms Dubber had actually won the ‘Daily Jackpot’ which was worth £20,625. 

Speaking after the court decision, Ms Dubber said: “As you can imagine, I’m so relieved and happy that the judge has confirmed I fairly and squarely won £1m 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.

“They 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?”

Ms Dubber decided to sue PPB Entertainment Limited, which trades as Paddy Power and Betfair, for a breach of contract; and for them to pay the rest of her winnings. 

Mr Justice Ritchie granted a summary judgement in her favour, meaning that she won her case without a trial.

In the 62-pade report, he stated: “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.

“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 a human error in mapping the software, as opposed to a computer error which Paddy Power claimed.

After the ruling, a Flutter spokesperson stated: “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.”

Mrs Dubber said the money would be lifechanging for her family. She added: "Obviously it will look after the children, from that we'll pay their mortgages and we're going to enjoy our retirement.”