A woman who won the jackpot on a Lotto website has spoken out after only receiving £20,000 of her winnings - being left in the dark as to where the rest of her £60,000 prize is.
Jane Fallon, 62, won the money on website WeLoveLotto on February, 2 last year. The site that lets customers buy lottery tickets to the UK Lotto, EuroMillions, EuroJackpot and lotteries from all around the world.
WeLoveLotto's website boasts of a "Guaranteed 100% Payout Policy", but that was little help to Jane when she won £60,000 last year.
The woman from Greater Manchester won the cash by picking four EuroMillions HotPick numbers and then doubling up. This means she technically won £30,000 twice.
At the time, she said WeLoveLotto congratulated her and said she had broken their record for the largest win, as reported by The Mirror.
Jane said: "It was all smiles and congratulations the next day, they said 'you're our biggest winner'."
The firm they said they were waiting for funds to clear from the National Lottery before paying her anything. Four weeks later, Jane got £1,000. Another two weeks later she got another £1,000, then another £18,000 around ten days after that.
But then the payments stopped completely.
Jane and her family chased the matter several times with WeLoveLotto and other gambling bodies, but over a year later she is still waiting to get her remaining £40,000. Now she is speaking out about her experience as a warning to others.
"I am sick of them," she said.
"My aim is to warn people about that Lotto website.
"I've phoned Action Fraud and the Gambling Commission but have had no help."
To make matters worse, Jane lost out on some of her benefits as a result.
Before she won the £60,000, Jane was claiming Personal Independence Payments and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Because old-style ESA is a means-tested benefit, Jane knew if she had savings of more than £16,000 she could not claim it.
As soon as Jane knew she won she called the Department of Work and Pensions to inform them, and a week later her ESA was stopped. But when her level of savings dipped back below £16,000, she had to start her claim all over again.
"I got back in contact and was able to get benefits again, though I had to send in bank statements," she said.
She is now back on the level of benefits she was before the win ever took place.
WeLoveLotto has a TrustPilot score of 3.3 stars out of 5.
Earlier this month The Mirror reported how a man was left baffled after Camelot refused to pay out on his winning £6.5million lottery ticket - saying it has already been claimed. Peter Rhodes, 60, said he thinks his ticket may have been stolen by a shop worker when he went to claim his winnings.
The pensioner claims a woman in Camelot's operations team confirmed it was worth £6.5million, but hours later he says he was contacted by the lottery firm's fraud team saying they will not pay out the winnings - because it had already been claimed.
Mr Rhodes, from London, told The Mirror: "It's a life-changing amount of money. They haven't stolen from me.
"They stole my kid's futures. That money was going to be for them.
"I turned 60 a couple of weeks ago and I never asked anything from anyone."
WeLoveLotto has been approached for comment multiple times by The Mirror.
