Postman won £330,000 due to glitch, says bookmaker

A postman who won more than £330,000 on an online gambling website has been told he would not receive the winnings as the money was credited due to a glitch.

Stephen Harvey, 53, from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said he played William Hill's Jackpot Drop game on 16 March and he won £200, which he put into his bank account and left £20 in his betting account.

He played again the online slot machine half an hour later and won £330,906.96.

In a statement Evoke, which owns William Hill, said it had "identified an issue affecting the Jackpot Drop game that temporarily resulted in incorrect sums being credited to players' balances and withdrawals being processed incorrectly".

It added: "Whilst we quickly identified and resolved this issue, for a short period of time funds were erroneously credited to some customer accounts that were not correctly generated through valid or properly functioning gameplay."

Harvey, who regularly played the Jackpot Drop game, said: "The jackpot bonus came up, and it came up diamonds afterwards, and it was £47,000.

"I carried on playing and then it came up to £183,000 and it finished off at £330,906.96."

He told The JVS Show on BBC Three Counties Radio that the amount of money was "very life-changing".

He said he currently rents a property and he thought he could buy somewhere and he "started looking for properties and everything".

He withdrew the money and "it was all processing and then later on in the afternoon I noticed they declined all the payments".

At 20:00 GMT the six-figure sum was put back into his account before it was then suspended and he could no longer log in.

He received an email two days later on 18 March that stated due to the terms and conditions the "operator is entitled to void those transactions, correct account balances and recover any sums withdrawn by you".

He was told he had three days to pay back his initial winnings of £200, which was described as the "settlement sum".

The email went on to say the money would be "accepted on a goodwill basis and strictly without any admission of liability by either party".

Harvey said he has been considering legal avenues to see if he could access the winnings.

The postman, who has two children, said he felt "crushed" and "gutted" by the whole experience.

"I was going to buy a house and might have bought myself a new car as mine is very old," he said.

An Evoke spokesperson added : "We have been grateful for our customers' understanding on this matter and apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.