Camelot lottery case clarifies when T&Cs are valid in online contracts

A dispute between Camelot lottery and one of its players has helped to clarify the validity of terms and conditions in online contracts, particularly when customers have ticked a box to confirm they have read them.

Joseph Halvorsen, Apprentice Trainee Solicitor, reports on this recent case.

The case involved Ms Joan Parker-Grennan, who opened an online National Lottery account in 2009. She ticked the box confirming that she had read the terms and conditions and that she agreed to be bound by them.

In 2015, she bought a ticket for an “instant win” game.  Although she only won £10, the game’s animations wrongly suggested she had won £1million.

Camelot said this was down to a coding error and refused the larger payout, pointing to the T&Cs that specified only one prize per game.

The case went all the way to the Court of Appeal, which had to decide whether Camelot’s T&Cs were validly incorporated into the contract with Parker-Grennan on the basis that she had ticked the box when opening her account and on subsequent occasions when logging in.

The court found in favour of Camelot, ruling that the terms were validly incorporated. Camelot had done all that was reasonably necessary to draw Parker-Grennan’s attention to the relevant T&Cs. She was regularly required when logging in to confirm that she had read the terms and agreed to be bound by them.

The law required that while a business is required to take “reasonable” steps to alert customers to its T&Cs, that did not mean it had to take “all possible” steps.

The court then considered whether Camelot had taken sufficient steps, as required by law, to bring onerous or unusual terms to the notice of its players in order for them to be incorporated into the contract.

The court held that this provision did not apply in this case because Camelot’s terms were not onerous or unusual.

If you would like more information about the issues raised in this article please contact Joseph on 01228 516666 or click here to send him an email.