Questions have been raised over the authenticity of lottery winners who have featured widely in national media news stories provided to publishers by two PR firms on behalf of a casino website.
PR agency Signal the News threatened Press Gazette with an injunction if we published even a partial screenshot of stories arising from its work which have appeared in the Daily Mail, Metro, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Sun and elsewhere.
The warning notes: “We will also notify your infrastructure providers, Fastly, Inc. and Pantheon, requiring immediate removal of the infringing content.
“Please be advised that publishing our images after receiving this notice removes any defence of innocent infringement and significantly increases your liability under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.”
So Press Gazette will merely share links to the stories in question and let readers draw their own conclusions.
Several widely covered news stories in late April this year featured people who claimed to have won prizes on either lottery draws or scratch cards, and then lost the ticket.
Mark and Laura Hayes from Ayrshire in Scotland were said to be “gutted” that their seven-year-old child allegedly threw out a £1,750-winning lottery ticket on bin day. The story appeared on Glasgow Live, the Daily Record, the Scottish Sun and Ayrshire Today and was syndicated on to Yahoo News and MSN. The stories include a picture of a man and woman with their two children.
Another story featured Gareth Thomas, from Cardiff, whose dog allegedly ate a £500 winning scratchcard and which ran in GB News, Wales Online and The Sun and other outlets.
Gareth Thomas looks remarkably similar to Mark Hayes. You can compare the two men in the Sun stories here and here.
A third story featured Aberdeen man Liam Carter who allegedly discovered a lottery ticket in a drawer after his mother’s death and which ran in dozens of outlets, including Aberdeen Live, Lancashire Eveing Post, Daily Record, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, Metro and Daily Express.
In each case, experts from the gambling site PlayCasino offered advice on what to do in such cases (and the business received links in the articles, which are valuable for SEO purposes).
Press Gazette understands that attempts were subsequently made to contact the winners with lost and destroyed tickets to explain they could still claim their winnings.
Under National Lottery policies, users can make a claim for lost, stolen or destroyed tickets within 30 days of purchase, providing details such as their name and where and when the ticket was purchased, and whether the shop has CCTV.
SEO agency Carbon Spark provided an email address for one of the winners, which they say came from Signal the News, and provided Press Gazette with contacts for PlayCasino and PR agency Signal the News, who had provided the case studies.
Press Gazette understands that when attempts were made to contact Ayrshire family Mark and Laura Hayes to let them know they could in fact still claim their £1,750 prize, no response was forthcoming.
Press Gazette emailed the address provided for the Hayes family to request urgent clarification on why they had not responded to emails telling them they could claim their winnings but received no response over the course of five days.
In each of these cases, the people reported on appear to have no presence online: no social media pages and no Linkedin profiles.
On being contacted by Press Gazette, Signal the News said that all case studies were “verified”.
When told by Press Gazette that one alleged winner had not replied either to Press Gazette’s emails, or to emails from interested parties telling him he could in fact claim for his prize, Signal the News made no reply.
The company responded shortly afterwards with threats around use of their images.
A final request sent by Press Gazette yesterday to Signal The News seeking explanation or clarification had gone unanswered at time of going to press.
The copy provided by the two PR and SEO agencies, Carbon Spark and Signal the News, had suggested that the couple had contacted the lottery operator and been told they could not collect their ticket.
But lottery rules clearly state that they would have been able to make a claim for their ticket.
The piece about the Hayes family claimed that representatives from the gambling site had ‘reached out’ to the family whose daughter had destroyed the ticket after hearing of their plight.
A spokesperson for PlayCasino said: “When we heard about this family’s story, we reached out straight away and conducted the interview because it’s the kind of heartbreaking situation that could happen to anyone.
“£1,750 is a significant loss – especially when it comes down to something so innocent. We’re urging all players: treat your ticket like it’s already won. Take a photo, store it safely, and don’t wait around to check it. It could save you thousands.”
When contacted by Press Gazette, a representative of PlayCasino said that they had not produced the case studies, and claimed the case studies were produced by PR agency Signal the News.
SEO agency Carbon Spark said it had no involvement in interviewing or dealing with the case studies.
Representatives from Signal the News acknowledged that they had made and sent out the case studies, but said they could not provide contacts as they deleted all information on case studies after 30 days (the stories first appeared on April 25).
The PR agency claimed that they had no records whatsoever of any emails or calls with the case studies, and declined an offer to trace the case studies to prove they were real.
Citing the General Data Protection Regulation and their own policies, Signal the News said they signed up the case studies via a form on their site, which required them to verify their identities with Government ID, a phone number and an email address.
Signal the News said via email: “Signal the News has a thorough submissions process to ensure stories aren’t falsified, which includes government ID verification, supporting documentation, and direct contact with all sources. Once verified and published, journalists have a 30-day window to request verification materials before personal data is removed from our systems in compliance with GDPR.
“If you’d like to verify any future stories we publish, you’re welcome to do so within that window.”
Signal the News claims that the case studies are real, and had been authenticated, but has no way to contact them now.
Press Gazette has previously reported on PR companies inventing fake personas in order to place expert comments in news websites in exchange for SEO links to CBD and sex toy websites. As part of that investigation we revealed that one of the most widely-quoted psychologists in the UK, Barbara Santini, does not appear to be a real person.
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