Agonising Wait For Outcome!

Lucy Dixon and her sister Annie struck gold when the £3 National Lottery scratchcard they had purchased turned out to be a winner – a big winner.

The Lucky Lines instant win offered odds of 1 in 3.33 with various prizes ranging from £3 to a total of nine £300K top prizes, and the siblings were lucky enough to scoop one of the biggest prizes on offer! At the time of the siblings win there were 22,522,140 Lucky Lines scratchcards in circulation.

What Happened?

The winning scratchcard was purchased in April of 2017, and minutes after winning the jackpot of £300K, they would be dealt a blow when the ticket was ripped completely in two! Lucy, full-time mum of five, couldn’t believe what they had just won and the pair started to jump in the air in celebration, oblivious to the fact the instant win ticket was in her back pocket!

Lucy said: said: “We gazed at each other and then when we had realised we had won we started screaming and then jumping in the air. The scratchcard had been folded in my pocket and so when we jumped in the air together the ticket ripped in half along the fold.”

Celebrations turned to horror on realising the winning ticket had been torn in two! Feeling robbed, the pair decided to make their way to Tesco where it was originally bought, to valid the win. The cashier told the pair it was indeed a winning ticket and that they would have to call the National Lottery to make their claim and explain the ticket had been torn in two.

Would They Get Their Winnings?

The National Lottery website states for scratchcards that are damaged, they must be sent to the prize payout department with a covering letter with the winner’s name, address and telephone number along with details of what happened. After doing this Camelot carried out a series of security checks…

…which took longer than the sisters had anticipated. The longer the process was taking, the more worried the siblings became. After an agonising wait, Camelot confirmed the ticket was a winner and the pair would receive the top prize of £300K that was shown on their torn ticket.

Speaking about the win, mum-of-two Annie said: “It’s all a bit bonkers. Neither of us have any luck, so this feeling is a bit unusual. It feels strange and yet fantastic. It’s great to feel that we have a huge financial cushion now for both of our families. It’s not a huge amount of money but a lovely amount to treat ourselves and put some away for the future. It just takes a lot of the stress away.”

A Camelot spokesperson added: “We are so glad to be able to pay the sisters this life-changing sum. It is essential that we ensure we are paying the rightful ticket holder, and in situations like this, it can take a little time for these investigations to take place.”

Source: “Lotto Worry We Scooped £300,000 Jackpot But Then Ticket Was Ripped To Shreds – We Had Agonising Wait To See If We Could Claim”. thesun.co.uk. November 29, 2023.