A HEARTBROKEN punter thought he had bagged £25,000... only to be told a printing error caused a mistake on his betting slip.

Jake Stevens took part in the William Hill football predictor last weekend, correctly predicting the number of goals scored in six Premier League fixtures.

Anyone who correctly predicts the scores earns a share of £50,000.

When Mr Stevens went into the William Hill in South Ockendon he couldn’t believe his luck when he was told only two people across the country made correct predictions and he would win £25,000.

But the next day he was contacted by William Hill to state there had been a printing error, and 19 people had won - each earning £2,631.85.

Mr Stevens said: “I have a physical slip, from the shop, confirming that I have won £25,000 and they aren’t honouring this payout due to an error?

“Completely unacceptable.

“From the extreme high of the life-changing amount of money of £25,000 to just £2,000 is mentally getting to me - there is no way that this is accepted.

“I will absolutely not be accepting this.”

A final decision on the issue will be taken by betting adjudication service Ibas and Mr Steves has not ruled out taking the matter to court.

An email sent to Mr Stevens confirmed a “computer error” was at fault.

It read: “A computer error meant that the equal share of the £50,000 prize wasn’t calculated accurately as our system calculated this on a regional rather than company level.

“This resulted in you being incorrectly told and given a slip indicating that your returns were £25,000, instead of £2,631.58.

A spokesman for William Hill said: “Football Predictor is a weekly free to enter competition that has a prize pot of £50,000 that is shared by those who correctly choose the number of goals in six selected matches. There were a number of winners this weekend, and unfortunately some of these customers were informed of an incorrect prize due to a technical issue.”

The spokesman added: “We recognise this experience has been unsatisfactory and we apologise to those customers.

“We are in the processes of contacting all the customers who we are aware have been directly affected by the problem.”