I won £500,000 lotto jackpot but would have lost the WHOLE thing if I’d answered single question wrong
A LUCKY player who scooped a life-changing £500,00 could have walked away without a penny if he had answered a single question wrong.
Marius Preda, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, was stunned to discover he had bagged the massive windfall in a BOTB competition.
The pizza delivery driver entered the Midweek Lifestyle draw, with tickets from 50p, and had to answer one question to qualify in the competition.
And, despite landing the eye-watering sum, the humble Papa Johns employee hasn’t given up his job.
The 28-year-old plans to use the cash to buy a house with his wife Alina, and treat their family to a luxury holiday.
He said: “I’m going to take some time to think about it.
“But we would love to buy a new house and go on holiday.”
Marius has worked for the popular pizza chain since he arrived in the UK from Romania five years ago.
The average Papa Johns delivery driver wage is around £12 an hour meaning a £480 weekly income based on a 40 hour week.
This equates to a salary of £24,960 per year.
“I’m absolutely delighted to have won and am full of emotions,” Marius added:
“Winning this amount of money is life-changing and it’s going to take some time to sink in.”
A BOTB spokesperson said: “Marius, who has been working as a pizza delivery driver for about four years and was back at work the next day.
“He was also planning to spend the money on a new home for him and his family.”
BOTB presenter Christian Williams said: “A huge congratulations to Marius on winning this amazing cash prize in our biggest-ever competition giveaway.
“We’re always looking at new ways to give people the chance to win some fantastic prizes, and it was great to be able to surprise Marius in the way we did.
“I know how hard it is for a lot of people at the moment and £500,000 is a life-changing amount of money.
“It has got to be the best tip any delivery driver has ever received.”
BOTB sees winners scoop prizes every week, from holidays and Rolex watches, to cars and motorbikes.
The firm, founded by William Hindmarch, launched in 1999, and has since given away £53million worth of luxury motors.
Fellow punter Saleem Chaudhary, from Birmingham, said he believed his late mother was ‘looking down’ on him and helped him win a BOTB mega-prize.
Saleem received a Mercedes Brabus GLE-700 Coupe as part of the Best of the Best (BOTB) dream car competition.
Plus, lucky winner Ian Bulley, who scooped an Audi RSQ3 and £30,000 in cash, said: “Wow!! What an amazing feeling to win this competition. Never in a million years did I expect Christian to surprise me with a video call.”
Meanwhile, another successful player, Ryan Cheah won a Mercedes G63 AMG and £70k in cash.
How to play
There are two games players can enter, the Dream Car Competition and the Midweek Lifestyle Competition.
Dream Car Comp
- Choose from 180 cars, with tickets starting at 90p
- Get closest to the judges in the skilled Spot the Ball game to win your Dream Car
- Closest position to the panel of Judges wins a car.
- Win runners-up prizes and credit in Zones 1-5.
- Ends midnight Sunday, Winners announced every Tuesday.
Midweek Lifestyle Comp
- Enter for the chance to win cars, bikes, cash, watches, holidays and gadgets – tickets from just 50p
- Answer the set question correctly to be entered into the draw and the winner will be drawn at random
- The draw ends at midnight on Wednesday and a winner is announced every Thursday.
