Outrage as bingo players 'win' share of £1.6m - then Gala takes it back

Gala Bingo players have been left "angry" and "disgusted" after a technical glitch led them to believe they had won thousands of pounds.

Several punters received notifications saying they had won an online bingo game, with some able to withdraw the money. But they were later told there had been a "technical error" and the winnings did not exist.

Read all the latest Money news here The affected customers were playing the Summer Nights Bingo promotion, which cost 1p a ticket or bingo card and had a maximum prize pot of £150. The Money team understands the issue occurred when the consolation prizes were being awarded during the game.

Due to the error, the prize pot ballooned, with people seemingly handed a share of more than £1.6m over the course of two hours. Screenshots shared with Money showed players getting prizes of between £40 and £2,400.

However, players later received this message: "Unfortunately, due to a technical error on Monday 4 August, your account was incorrectly credited with Bingo winnings." More than 166 people have joined a "Justice for Gala Victims" Facebook group, with many customers sharing their experiences of the glitch. The Gambling Commission, which is responsible for regulating and licensing gambling businesses in the UK, told Money it was investigating the technical issue.

'I'm on universal credit - I thought I could treat my children' Emma Wills, a mother of three, was excited to see a notification telling her she had won a runner-up prize of £920 after spending around £1.20 on the 1p tickets. "I was shocked, I was thinking 'oh my gosh, I can take the kids out somewhere nice while they're with me for the holidays, I can pay off a few of my debts, and I can give money for a car,' and obviously that quickly went out the window," the 34-year-old from London said.

The following morning, she tried to log into her Gala Bingo account but found it had been suspended for 24 to 48 hours. She contacted the company and was told there had been a "malfunction" and she hadn't actually won anything.

Instead, she said, Gala Bingo refunded some of the money she deposited - a total of 77p. "I was really angry, along with a lot of other people, because I feel like we won.

It's quite upsetting because I thought I could do quite a bit with that money. I just don't think it's fair," Wills said.

"I'm on universal credit, so I don't get a lot of money. Because I thought I'd won, I ended up buying little things for [my children] to do.

It wasn't a lot, like £41... when I realised I wasn't getting the money, I was like 'crap I shouldn't have done that'." Wills had been a regular Gala Bingo customer, logging in each day to use the free spins and depositing between £10 and £20 a month, but said she had now been put off playing it.

"I haven't used it since. I want to get all my winnings back...

I don't feel like it should be taken off me or other people. I don't think [Gala Bingo] care," she added.

Gala Bingo's terms and conditions set out that if an account is credited with winnings as a result of a "malfunction.