Is bankrupt competitions boss behind new scheme?

When Ami Shuttleworth and her fiance Chris Smith were told they had won £10,000 in a pay-to-enter competition, they immediately knew how they would spend their prize.

"We were over the moon, our wedding was going to be paid off," recalls the 34-year-old mother-of-one from Middlesbrough.

Mel Higgins, 33, also had big plans for the £5,000 she was told she had won.

"I was going to pay off my credit card and whatever was left I was going to put into my business," says the driving consultant from Chippenham.

"I cried my eyes out because I thought, 'this is going to change my life'."

Yet, like many others who were successful playing with Level Up Giveaways, neither of them received a penny of their winnings.

The firm, based in Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, was wound up at the High Court in August 2025 over unpaid debts, with its sole director, Anton Hall, also made bankruptin November 2025as part of separate proceedings.

The BBC understands the company owed tens of thousands in unpaid prizes to its customers before it stopped trading.

Admin assistant Ami says she "saw red" when she found out 37-year-old Hall is now involved in a new prize draws venture.

"Like a lot of people I'm just angry," she adds.

For Mel, "it just feels wrong".

Running a limited company, either directly or indirectly, would breach the terms of Hall's bankruptcy order and constitute a criminal offence.

Hall, who according to court documents is now living in York, told the BBC: "I haven't set up or owned a limited company, and I'm not a director of, or managing, a limited company.

"The competitions I hosted have been run personally through the Raffall platform."

Raffall is an independent website which allows people to host their own competitions.

Sometimes referred to as prize draws or pay-to-enter competitions, these enterprises work by selling a set number of entries to a draw, often for a cash prize.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has described prize draws and competitions as a "significant and growing market".

Government legislation on bankruptcy restrictions states: "You need the permission of the court to act as a company director.

"This includes directly or indirectly, taking part in, or having a concern in the promotion, formation or management of a limited company."

There are no restrictions on a person who is bankrupt working as an employee of a company.

They could also operate as a sole trader, by which they are personally responsible for the company's debts.

In a YouTube video released in August, Hall announced he had a live competition and said he would be an employee of the new venture, which would be run by someone else.

However, he appears to have played a leading role in promoting and running the enterprise, which is also in his name.

In a series of social media posts since announcing the new venture, he suggested he was personally managing draws and openly discussed sales numbers, profit and loss figures and guiding the future direction of the venture.

Raffall founder and CEO Stelios Kounou confirmed the account @antonlevelup was registered to Hall personally and said payments had been made only to an account held in the name of Anton Hall.

The account had been set up prior to Hall being declared bankrupt, Kounnou added.

Kounou said Raffall had been contacted by the Insolvency Service, which manages Hall's bankruptcy, regarding the account.

A spokesperson for the Insolvency Service said they did not comment on individual cases.

Discussing his new venture last month, Hall said the feedback had been "good", adding: "A few people negative, understandably, I get it - potentially the winners from Level Up Giveaways who didn't get paid unfortunately.

"We have agreed that if [the new venture] takes off - it's a big if - and it starts making a decent amount of profit we are going to look at trying to pay out people who didn't get paid from Level Up Giveaways.

"That is the ultimate goal."

Hall's bankruptcy restrictions, which last 12 months, will expire on 7 November.

They include having to tell the trustee of his bankruptcy about any additional income on top of what has already been declared.

This money could be used to pay back creditors over a period of three years.

Hall said he had "not made any net profit" from running the draws.

The BBC asked him how he was able to make promises about the payment of potential future profits of the new enterprise, given he was an employee.

He said the video was recorded "before I became aware of the bankruptcy proceedings and related restrictions".

"At that time, I was discussing working with someone else on a proposed business, but once I became aware of the situation, that proposed arrangement did not proceed."

After he was contacted by the BBC, Hall suggested he would no longer be running competitions in a social media post.

"The raffle thing isn't worth putting my family through the drama," he wrote.

Ami and Chris had previously won £10,000 with Level Up Giveaways in 2023 during seemingly better times for the company.

But the following year, when they thought they had once again been successful, the firm's problems appeared to mount, with numerous winners left in the dark.

In a YouTube video published in January 2025, Hall said he has been struggling to sell enough tickets for his draws to cover costs, leaving him unable to pay out.

Yet the competitions continued.

Ami recalls making "phone call after phone call" chasing her winnings.

"It did cause a lot of stress in the lead up to the wedding," she remembers.

"It didn't take the shine off our wedding, but it's always going to be in the back of my mind how it could have changed it."

Mel says her experience has been "hugely upsetting".

"Fair enough things go wrong and people do make mistakes, but when you are that far into it you have got to pull the plug and stop taking money from people."

Pointing to a recent social media post from Hall promoting a competition which he claimed had undersold, she adds: "I'm pretty sure that behaviour got him into the mess in the first place."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.