My sons gave me a hard time for doing the lottery until I scooped a £9.7m win – they’re lucky I gave them a penny
A MUM-of-two has revealed how her sons gave her a “hard time” for playing the lottery… until she scooped a £9.7million win.
According to the winner, who chose to remain anonymous, she only buys scratch cards and lottery tickets “occasionally”.
But after noticing a scratch card at her local supermarket had her birthday on it, she decided to buy it.
The last-minute decision changed her life.
“My sons don’t play the lottery and they love to give me a hard time when I buy my tickets occasionally,” the mum shared.
“So I’d always joke with them saying, ‘When I win, I won’t give you any!’
“It feels like it was fate.
“I was actually about to purchase a different ticket when I noticed the 20 Years of Cash ticket number matched my birthday, so I decided to try that one.
“Boy, am I glad I did!”
20 Years of Cash is a lottery scratch card available in Illinois, US, and follows a similar format to the UK National Lottery’s Set for Life.
Winners will receive $50,000 (£40,471) a month for 20 years, totalling to a prize sum of $12million (£9.7million),
It can also be delivered in annual payments of $600,000 (£485,652) for 20 years, or as a one-time $7.2million (£5.8million) payment.
“I immediately called my son and squealed ‘I think I won big!’,” the winner continued.
“Next thing I know, he’s yelling at his fiancé to get out of the bathroom so they could come over to see the ticket.”
Her son joked that he had to see the ticket with himself to believe it.
“I wasn’t going to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, so we had to rush over,” he said.
“I wanted to read the rules, double check the numbers, and make sure it was, in fact, a winning ticket.
“It’s safe to say, while we’re all still in shock, we feel like one very lucky family.”
Despite her sceptical sons, the mum plans to split her mammoth win with them.
“I don’t need a lot of things, that’s something I’ve always said and believed,” she said.
“I just want time with my family.
“As I get older, the memories and time together is even more important for me.
“We are going to splurge and take our whole family on a vacation so we can celebrate together.”
Curse of lotto winners
Despite hitting the jackpot, countless UK lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and went on a spending spree, purchasing a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 home for her mum.
But she ultimately blew thousands on wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was found to be claiming Universal Credit after blowing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who was wearing an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket, immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom home in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on lavish home upgrades and dropped £49,000 on a BMW to park in his drive. He most notably invested £1million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him over his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4million from the divorce settlement. By 2010, he had declared bankruptcy.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara netted £1.8million on the National Lottery in 2005.
Quitting their day jobs, the couple enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motors and also splashed £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple divested into safer assets but the global financial crisis hit and rendered them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames – and all their funds dried up three years later.
Lee Ryan
Ex-jailbird Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launched in 1994.
It later emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout.
Once released he spent a decade enjoying his riches, even buying a helicopter and a £2million mansion but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee was dealt his final blow when he took an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his winnings in property, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loving couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they scooped a staggering £148million.
But just 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with both parties partly blaming stress on their mind-boggling win.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who ended up bolting with his money, 30 horses, a horse box, and a car he gifted her.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail, and last made the headlines in 2021 for claiming nearly £40,000 in furlough cash.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret scooped £27million in 2013 and became Northern Ireland’s biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted the huge fortune didn’t bring her any happiness.
She told local media: “Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.”
Tragically, in September last year, Margaret, by now in her 50s, was found dead in her home.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis proved Kay really had purchased the ticket.
But a little-known rule stipulating that lost tickets must be reported within 30 days meant they would never receive the cash – eventually putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.