888 voided C$1.27m in jackpot wins: Alberta player disputes

Last updated: 31 Oct 2026, 21:08 CET: first published

An Alberta player says 888casino took back C$1,267,003 in jackpot wins after a run on Pragmatic Play's Floating Dragon – Year of the Snake in March, on the grounds that the game malfunctioned. An incident report blames a release error that put test maths into the live game. Seven months on, the player says he has struggled to find regulatory or legal help and may go to court (Casino.org, Gaming America).

The account below comes from the player, James Kotylak, as reported by Gaming America on 28 October, and from an incident report that Gaming America and Casino.org say they have seen. As of 31 October we have not seen the report published. Evoke, 888's owner, has publicly acknowledged a Jackpot Drop fault affecting William Hill customers (NEXT.io, 19 March; BBC News, 31 March). As of 31 October we found no statement from 888 or Evoke on this player's case; Gaming America reports that 888 told the player the wins came from a malfunction.

What the player says happened

On 16 March 2026 Kotylak, 42, was playing Floating Dragon – Year of the Snake at 888casino, using the Jackpot Drop feature. He says a run of jackpots, including several diamond jackpots of C$85,703.77 each, took his balance to about C$1.3 million, and that he received around 15 emails from 888 congratulating him on jackpot wins that would be confirmed within 72 hours.

A C$47,000 withdrawal was not processed. He says 888 then removed C$1,267,003 in winnings from the account, citing a malfunction, while keeping C$54,312.55 in cash he had wagered. He had deposited C$700 the day before the session.

What the incident report says

According to Gaming America, the report states: "The root cause of the issue was a release error, whereby a version of the game maths logic reserved for testing was inadvertently deployed to the production environment."

Both outlets report these details from it (figures as each gives them):

• Scale: over 35,000 jackpot hits during the fault against an expected baseline of 518 (Gaming America); Casino.org gives the exact figure as 35,072.
• Reach: 888, William Hill and Mr Green, all owned by Evoke, across several jurisdictions.
• Timing: the fault began at 03:10 Mountain Time, an investigation started at 03:21 and the issue was resolved at 03:49.

Kotylak says he started playing at 03:19 and made 734 spins, some after the investigation had begun. His argument is that 888 kept accepting his bets while it was looking into the fault.

What "malfunction voids all pays and plays" means

Many online casinos have a clause like this in their terms; Stake.us's terms, for example, say that in a platform malfunction "all Game play on that Platform is void". According to Gaming America, 888's says a malfunction voids all play and that 888 is not liable for winnings that result from malfunctions, errors or bugs.

Our reading: in plain terms, the clause lets the casino treat affected rounds as if they never counted. It is there for genuine faults, and Evoke has itself publicly acknowledged a Jackpot Drop fault, although it spoke about William Hill customers rather than this player. The open question in disputes like this is usually not whether a fault happened, but whether the clause can be applied the way the casino applied it: to wins already confirmed by email, during a window when the casino was still taking bets, while keeping the player's stakes. That is what Kotylak disputes.

Courts in England have sided with players in some error disputes. Gaming America cites two High Court cases where courts found for players despite the operator blaming a fault: Green v Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a Betfred [2021] EWHC 842 (QB), about £1.7 million, and Durber v PPB Entertainment Ltd [2025] EWHC 498 (KB), where £1,097,132.71 was shown on screen against £20,265.14 paid. Both were decided partly under UK consumer law. Those were English cases on their own facts. They say nothing about how a Canadian court would treat this one.

Why the complaint stalled, by his account

At the time of the session, 888 served Alberta players under a Gibraltar licence, according to Gaming America. Alberta's regulated online market opened on 13 July 2026, after the March session.

• Kotylak says, as reported by Gaming America, that 888 first pointed him to eCOGRA, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service, and that eCOGRA told him it does not cover players in Canada. This is his account; we have not seen eCOGRA's reply.
• Kotylak says 888 later apologised in writing for giving him wrong information about its complaints process. This is his claim; we have not seen the letter.
• He says he then went to the Gibraltar Gambling Division, which, according to Gaming America, concluded in May that the dispute turns on contractual enforceability and "requires judicial determination". We have not seen the Division's letter.

Kotylak says he has not found a lawyer to take the case and may represent himself.

Our reading: the general lesson is about where you play. An ADR service often only helps if it covers your country, and a regulator often only steps in where it licenses the site for your market. Check which ADR body and regulator your casino's terms name for your country before a dispute, not after.

If a casino cancels a win of yours

General points, not legal advice:

• Keep everything. Save the win notifications and emails, take screenshots of your balance and game history with dates and times, and note the game and session.
• Ask in writing for the game-round log for the disputed rounds and for the casino's explanation of the fault. Kotylak says it took four months to receive the incident report.
• Read the clause the casino relies on, and keep a copy of the terms as they stood on the day.
• Follow the complaint route in the terms: the casino's own complaints team first, then the ADR body or regulator named for your market.
• Do not chase it at the tables. A disputed win is not a reason to play on to win it back.

For background on 888's owner, see Evoke's Q3 2026 results. For Alberta's new market, see Alberta's first iGaming revenue report and the end of Alberta's transition, with 29 operators and 50 sites.

Updates

• 31 Oct 2026: first published.