A technical glitch has once again caused an issue for a UK gaming operator after a Gala Bingo error wrongly awarded customers thousands of pounds in prizes.
Close to 2,000 players believed that they had secured up to £10,000 each from a total prize pot of £1.6m, however, customers were unable to withdraw their prize sums.
Instead, Gala Bingo informed players that the outcome was caused by a technical glitch which had inflated the Summer Nights Bingo promotion’s prize pot from a maximum of £150 to £1.6m.
As a result, players who bought bingo cards for 1p per round were awarded wins worth thousands of pounds.
One customer, who thought she’d won £9,599.47, received an email from Gala Bingo that stated: “Unfortunately, due to a technical error on Monday 4th August 2025, your account was incorrectly credited with Bingo winnings.”
The customer also reported that when prize winners asked the Gala chat host whether the prizes were genuine, it responded that they were, and said “enjoy your winnings”, adding to the customers belief that their winnings were legitimate.
Although some ‘winners’ reported that the withdrawal process went as expected, the money they thought they had won never reached their account.
Instead, Gala Bingo told those affected that they would be refunded what they had spent on bingo tickets.
A Gala Bingo spokesperson told SlotBeats: “We apologise to customers for a technical error which occurred during our Summer Nights Bingo promotion for a short period of time, resulting in all players receiving incorrect payouts.
“Our customer Terms and Conditions clearly state that in the event of a malfunction, winnings can be voided. Affected players have been contacted directly with a gesture of goodwill.”
According to the spokesperson, the actions taken following the malfunction were covered under clause 17.5 of the platform’s terms and conditions.
The clause states: “If as a result of a malfunction, your account is credited with winnings that you would not have received were it not for that malfunction, we will void the relevant transaction and withhold any resulting winnings.
“This applies even if the relevant gambling product could have produced the same or similar amount of winnings without the intervention of the malfunction and it applies whether the malfunction was apparent to you or to us or not. If you have withdrawn any such winnings, you agree that you will pay them back to us as and when we ask you to.”Gala Bingo also confirmed that it has contacted the UK Gambling Commission over the incident.