No 'Spot The Ball' Jackpot Winner In A Decade

A football fan who has been playing the 'Spot the Ball' competition for 10 years has revealed that no-one has won the £250,000 jackpot in that time.

Peter Cook, 66, from Nuneaton has spent £1,300 on the game, and won just £14 in total.

Players receive printed sheets of tiny stick-on crosses and Mr Cook had been paying £2.50 for 1,000 crosses, which allowed him to cover an area of the photograph with a block of guesses.

The top prize can only be won by guessing the exact centre of the football.

He told Sky News: "There are times when I'd expect to have a chance especially with the condensed crosses on the patches. I know I've covered the location of the ball a few times and you sometimes think this could be the week. But not to be, not to be.

"I emailed the customer services department and while I was on I asked the question would they tell me when was the last time the jackpot was won? And I was astounded to find out it hadn't been paid out since September 2004."

In its 70s heyday, Spot the Ball was played by three million people a week, but interest fell after the launch of the National Lottery in 1994 and now around 14,000 people play it.

"Because I'm a big football follower I've always thought there's a chance I could win something," said Mr Cook. "But the reaction of the non-payment of the jackpot has been greeted with such words as 'scam', 'farce', 'waste of money'.

"A lot of people will have a dig at me saying I should know better and spend my money on something more worthwhile.

"I think after this a lot of people will think twice about spending money on Spot the Ball, to be quite honest."

Spot the Ball owner Sportech, which bought out the previous owner Littlewoods in 2000, said: "Players of the Spot the Ball game have won £16m in prizes over the last ten years, with prizes paid out every week.

"The top prize is won by guessing the exact centre of the ball but this has not happened since 2004, reflecting the fact that fewer people play the game, 14,000 today, compared to 64,000 in 2004 and 1.5 million in 1994.

"The process for determining the exact centre of the ball, and hence the winner, has not changed in that time."

Mr Cook said he was aware that to ensure it was a game of luck, the location of the real ball is ignored and judges decide where the fictional ball should be."

Sportech is currently locked in a £93m VAT legal battle with the taxman over the game.

They had initially won the argument that it was a game of chance not skill, and so should not be liable for tax.

However, HMRC appealed the decision and the company were ordered to pay the money back. They are currently taking their case to the Court of Appeal.

Mr Cook doesn't think he'll be playing the game again.

"I don't think I've got a cat in hell's chance of winning it now after bringing all this to the public's and punters' attention," he said.