We won £333k on lottery but brushed it off as a PRANK – I’d have lost out on huge jackpot if it wasn’t for telltale sign
A DAD has told how he bagged £333,333 in the postcode lottery – but thought it was a prank by friends.
Lucky Roly shared the pot with two neighbours in Chester after his postcode won the Millionaire Street £1million prize yesterday.
Roly and his clinical pharmacist wife Sian initially thought the win was a set-up by one of their prankster pals.
He said, “I’ve got a few mates and we sort of play the odd practical joke.
“I told my best mate and I was like, ‘This isn’t you, is it?’
“The more it started happening I was like, ‘I’m not sure that he’s got the resources to hire different people from Scotland and set up a web domain’.
“It was then I thought it was real. I thought the maximum, which would have been amazing, would have been the £30,000 Street Prize.”
Horse-racing mad Roly now may spend the money on buying his own horse.
The dad-of-one said, “I haven’t decided what I will spend it on, everything will be subject to spousal approval, obviously.
“A holiday, I’m sure. It’s my little girl’s fourth birthday next month, so I’m sure she’ll get some treats.
“I would say buy a horse, but I don’t think I would get away with that.
“I’m a massive racing fan so I’d like to buy even the leg of a horse, but I’m not sure I’ll get that one approved. Who knows?”
He revealed the win has come just 11 days before the start of Chester’s biggest meet, the Boodles May Festival.
He said, “I feel shocked, but surreal. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I think to anyone this sort of money will really make a difference.
“Our daughter’s four so we’ve got a lot of things to look forward to with her in life. But there are a lot of things we will want to save money for.
“University fees are a long way off, but things like that, and this will really, really help make sure that she’s got everything that she needs.
“I’ll finish the garden which you couldn’t go into because it’s a wasteland at the back – a building site.”
It comes as other winners celebrate Post Code Lottery scoops on streets up and down the country.
Sue Lamb, in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, was “overwhelmed” when she discovered she’d scooped £142,000 just after Christmas – saying “it’s like having my children all over again”.
The winning grandparent shared the £1m jackpot with five neighbours.
Another dad on the street scooped a £142,000 lotto jackpot – and spent the money on his daughter.
Elsewhere, another couple who won £60,000 on the People’s Postcode Lottery were able to double their winnings.
Susan and Colin Tallon from Warrington, Cheshire, were able to take home twice the £31,250 prize on a massive fluke while in Greater Manchester, more than 1,000 locals bagged themselves £3.2million.