Man, 76, Had Heart Attack After William Hill Refused To Pay Out £285,000 Jackpot

A man has suffered a heart attack after William Hill voided his £285,700 jackpot win on the “Cherry Bonanza” game, citing a technical glitch.

John Riding, 76, from Burnley, says he was ‘absolutely destroyed’ after the bookmaker told him they wouldn’t honour his £285,700 win – and claims the stress it caused led to his heart attack and hospitalisation.

John had placed a 10p stake on the game using the William Hill app when he seemingly won £285,700 on 16 March 2026.

The dad-of-two said it ‘felt like a dream’ when he saw the jackpot appear on screen, so headed to his local William Hill in Burnley to confirm the winnings.

John told The Mirror: “They checked my account for me and told me I’d won that money. I was celebrating with the other customers.

“I’ve never felt such joy. I couldn’t wait to tell my son and daughter. I told them: ‘I’ve got some life-changing news!'”

He mentally envisioned how he was going to spend the cash, planning an epic holiday with his family, a car purchase, and a move closer to his children.

Devastatingly, just 24 hours later, his £285,700 win had been removed from his William Hill account, and the bookmaker emailed him to explain they had taken the winnings back and added £15.40 to his account as a gesture of good will. Um, gee thanks?

He spent the next week trying to figure out the situation with William Hill, but it wasn’t to be. The £285,700 win was apparently a ‘glitch’, and that’s all there was to it. Apparently, over 100 customers were affected by the error.

Ten days later, John explained that he began to ‘feel really unwell’ – and was rushed to hospital after suffering from a heart attack.

He claims that chasing up the issue caused him a ‘massive amount of stress’, and noted that he isn’t overweight, doesn’t drink or smoke, and his arteries weren’t blocked either.

John said: “When you’re ecstatic and then you get flattened, it’s like being hit with a sledgehammer because your mind goes berserk. It just absolutely destroyed me and I just went off balance and had a resulting heart attack.”

The good news is that John recovered following a week in hospital, but it does absolutely suck that this happened in the first place. Imagine being 76 years old and truly believing you’ve won £285,700 and that your financial woes are over, only to have it snatched away from you because of a ‘glitch’. You’ve just got to take their word for it, and that’s that.

A spokesperson for Evoke, which owns William Hill, said the firm was ‘very sorry to hear about Mr Riding’s condition’ and wished him ‘a very speedy recovery’.

The company said in a statement: “During a routine review of platform activity, we identified an issue affecting the Jackpot Drop game which temporarily resulted in incorrect sums being credited to players’ balances and withdrawals being processed incorrectly.

“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.

“We have contacted relevant customers to clarify the issue and are in the process of retrieving the funds in line with our standard terms and conditions. We have been grateful for our customers’ understanding on this matter and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

For the UK rapper who got a Bet365 tattoo and making 7 figures on the app, click HERE.