A bingo player that claimed for a jackpot of £500 is angry that the club is refusing to pay out. Julia Barrett, 60, from Thornton Heath claims she won the bingo game while playing at the Streatham Bingo club on Sunday 25th September. The caller missed her claim and continued on to the next number and the management decided that the fault was with the claimant.

Mrs Barrett, who moved to the area in August, said: "I am crying inside. If that is the way it is going to be, I am not going back because I am wasting my time and my money. I have never won £500 in my life. I am so sick."

The general manager of the bingo club, Danny Bhikoo, suggested Mrs Barrett made a late claim.

He added: "Obviously she is not very happy, but it happens nearly every week. The onus is on the player – she or he has to be loud and clear."

"My colleague told me she didn’t shout on time. Although a lot of people around her heard, the caller has to hear the claim.

"They are the rules of the game- it is not that we have not paid her the money. Everyone knows the rules."

The bingo club, which is part of the Beacon Bingo chain, have offered the lady a free game of bingo.

While missed claims do happen the matter could be referred to the Gambling Commission. A customer that missed a claim, due to the caller not hearing the shout, for a £2,000 link game at the former Top Ten Bingo club in Derby decided to pursue the matter to the regulator. Top Ten Bingo management offered the customer £1,000, which was accepted, to settle the matter with the consent of the regulator.

At the time the Assistant Manager at the Top Ten Bingo club had not been paying attention and the caller had failed to hear the call even though customers further from the claimant had clearly heard the call.

Mrs Barrett needs to assess whether it was her fault or that of the caller. Yes the rules stipulate that the onus is on the player to stop the game, but the club has the responsibility to ensure that callers act in a reasonable manner. Every day in bingo clubs there are missed claims that are paid out because bingo managers decide that the claimant shouted in such a manner that the caller should have heard the claim.