Canadian player battles 888 over jackpot error

James Kotylak, a 42-year-old player from Alberta, believes he won C$1.3 million (US$950,000) while playing online slots. However, 888casino invalidated the payouts citing a software malfunction and removed the winnings from his account. Seven months after the incident, Kotylak continues to fight the operator to get his money.

Kotylak says that on March 16 he won consecutive Jackpot Drop prizes on Pragmatic Play's Floating Dragon Year of the Snake game. He reports receiving around 15 congratulatory messages, each announcing a diamond jackpot worth C$85,703.77. When he tried to withdraw C$47,000, the transaction was blocked, and then 888 removed the C$1,267,003 win from his account, citing an internal error.

Kotylak claims the operator, once it noticed the problem, kept accepting bets during this period. He says he made 734 spins during the affected period and that some of them took place after the investigation began. He has requested the game records and is trying to find an independent body to review the matter.

888, which is owned by Evoke, as well as sites such as William Hill and Mr Green, are reported to have been affected by the problem. According to an internal report reviewed by Casino.org, the error was caused by test software that was accidentally placed in the live gaming environment. The report states that 35,072 jackpot hits were recorded in the same period the previous week, instead of the expected 518, and that the wrongly paid amount is estimated to have reached several million dollars.