How ‘glitch’ stopped Gala Bingo players scooping share of £1.6M

More than 1,000 Gala Bingo players were left with shattered dreams and empty pockets after the prizes they thought they had won were the result of an online glitch. 

The players believed they had nabbed up to £10,000 each from a prize pot of £1.6million on the popular online gambling site.

But when they attempted to withdraw their winnings, they were told by the company that they would not be able to cash the money. 

The glitch in the bingo company’s system resulted in the prize pot increasing to £1.6million when it should have only reached a maximum of £150.

As a result, 1,188 players were left disappointed and out of pocket. 

The gambling site then sent out an email to its customers explaining the wins were a result of a technical fault and confirming that they would not be receiving the thousands of pounds some of the players felt they were owed. 

One family told The Daily Mail that they had hoped to spend their winnings on a funeral for a relative and were upset and disappointed when Gala Bingo said they could not cash the £9,600 they thought they had won. 

The Scottish pair, who wished to remain anonymous, discovered their accounts frozen and the money nowhere to be seen after playing online on Monday. 

The woman revealed that her partner had recently lost his mother and was over the moon to find the 1p game providing winnings of up to £7,200. 

She confessed that they both felt like the Scotsman’s mother was watching over and smiling down at them. 

She added that she also tried to cash in on the good luck and enjoyed a game of bingo, taking home £2,4000 herself.

The couple were relieved by the surprise windfall and planned to spend the jackpot on a fully pink-themed funeral in honour of his mother complete with pink kilts. 

The woman said: ‘My partner went up to get his medication and when he came back and sat down he looked shocked. I double checked and it said we had won £2,400. 

‘We thought we could take care of the funeral with no worries about the expense.’

The Scot added that she feared something wasn’t right when she saw there were as many as 1,000 winners and the jackpost was still available. 

But she and her partner continued to play and their fears were even soothed by the bingo chat room host who told them to enjoy their winnings. 

She said: ‘I wasn’t sure about it all but then the host said “enjoy your winnings” – they obviously didn’t realise what was happening.’

The 52-year-old woman said that some players were able to withdraw the money straight to their Santander bank accounts but others couldn’t.

She told the Daily Mail that since the shocking incident, Gala Bingo has frozen her and her partners accounts and even disabled her husband’s chat room privileges. because of his complaining. 

As recompense, she said they had been given some money back in the form of vouchers but felt it wasn’t enough. 

She said: ‘My partner is angry and it’s become all-consuming, especially at such a difficult time. this has just knocked him sideways.

‘It’s all been dealt with so badly, it wasn’t right.’ 

And the husband and wife weren’t the only ones blindsided by the Gala Bingo glitch.     

Victoria Geer, 28, and a full time mother from Oxford confessed she was ‘shocked and so disappointed’ to be told by the gambling site that her winnings were in fact not hers at all. 

She explained that she believed to have had a lucky streak, winning a pot worth £2,400 three times in a row but when it came to cashing the money, her account was frozen.

The mother-of0one said: ‘I put in £15 at around 8pm and played the 1p Bingo but by 8.30pm I’d been roped in to run-up rewards but I didn’t know what that was and then suddenly I got told I had won £2,400 three times in a row.’

She said the company’s decision to blame a glitch and refuse to pay out was ‘very sneaky and crafty.’

Ms Greer added that she had thought the prize money was real throughout because even the chat host congratulated her and told her to spend her winnings.

The mother told the Daily Mail that she had hoped to spend the small fortune on things for her new baby boy and a holiday but revealed they were all now on hold. 

‘I was going to spend the money on my 18-week-old boy and get him some lovely things for Christmas and go away on holiday with my partner to Spain for a week in March. 

‘I wanted driving lessons and a test because I don’t drive at the moment so I’m disappointed,’ she said.  

Mother and daughter Susan, 64, and Beth, 31, said they couldn’t believe it when they thought they had won almost £10,000 together. 

The pair said they had withdrawn as soon as they could after seeing the winning notification pop up on screen but their payment never made it to their account. 

‘We were playing and then Emily said she had won something and it turned out we had won £9,600 each and I just couldn’t believe it,’ Susan said.

‘I was worried it wasn’t legit and so I tried to withdraw it but after about four hours it said the payment was cancelled.’

The 64-year-old, who recently suffered a stroke, said she thought the money would go some way to renovating her cottage to make it more accessible following the change in her health. 

‘I was going to spend my winnings on changes to my cottage to help now that I’ve had this stroke.’

She added that she thought Gala bingo needed to be held accountable and said she wanted some recompense for the stress of the whole experience. 

Bethand Susan received one per cent of the money they thought they had won and a Gala Bingo voucher but have said it’s not enough.

‘Somebody has to pay for this and something has to be done.

‘Why did no one flag the error? I was told I had won £2,4000 three times in a row – how did no one spot this mistake?

‘And to only give people one per cent back – it’s not enough, it doesn’t cover the stress this has caused. We’ve only got £96 out of the £9,600 we thought we had. 

Beth had some better luck than her mother and managed to withdraw some of the money before the transaction could be cancelled, but it was just a small amount of the full total she believed she had won. 

She said: ‘I managed to withdraw about £250 but now the rest in my account has been frozen and I can’t withdraw it. Some people might have been able to withdraw thousands but we couldn’t and we don’t know.

‘Now we’ve just been given a bingo bonus of £20 but has to be spent on Gala Bingo and within a week so we’re tied in because it’s not withdrawable.’

She added that both she and her mother would not be returning.

Beth said: ‘I won’t play again. I’ve vowed never to play again. It’s ruined my trust.’

But not everyone had such a difficult time and one Manchester resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was one of the lucky few who managed to cash in all her winnings. 

The woman was able to cash in £2,400 from Gala Bingo and has been spending the money on clothes and shoes for her eight-year-old daughter ahead of their caravan holiday. 

She explained that she didn’t think there was anything odd about the win because she had previously managed to bag £1,500 from the site but withdrew the cash immediately to put towards her family holiday. 

She said: ‘I was playing and realised I’d won at 7.44pm and withdrew the money to my bank account at 7.46pm and it was there within ten minutes. 

I didn’t even think there was anything wrong or it was a glitch because I’ve won a few times before and once won £1,500.’

She added she thought her success was down to her speed and said she assumes she was one of the first to cash in her prize.

The Bingo player added that she was also led to believe her success was nothing out of the ordinary because she received an official email from the company warning her to consider what to do with such a large sum and signposting gambling support.

But the Manchester mother confessed she has since been wracked with guilt knowing that not everyone was as lucky as her. 

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I feel so awkward and guilty – people are talking about suing them and saying they are owed money but I don’t know. 

‘I can’t sleep – I didn’t get to sleep until 4.30am on Monday and it’s put me off spending the money. ‘

The mother said that while she initially bought her daughter a pair of Crocs instead of a pair of ‘cheap sandals from Primark’ she was loathed to do any more shopping in case Gala Bingo decided to take her winnings from her bank account. 

‘I went to the Old Trafford Centre but I couldn’t buy anything, I’m scared that if I spend it and they ask for it back – I can’t have that kind of debt. 

‘I’m just trying to buy sensibly for my daughter for the holidays.’ 

The Daily Mail has contacted Gala Bingo for comment.