A couple almost missed out on a huge lottery prize over the festive season after throwing away the winning ticket with the Christmas rubbish! Mum of two Joanne Joynson from Merseyside had tried her luck on the Spanish Lottery over Christmas, placing her bet on the lottery with Betfred Bookmakers, when she popped into the shop on New Year’s Eve she discovered her ticket was a winner!
However, that left Ms Joynson with a big problem, as she had already thrown away the ticket with the Christmas rubbish three days previously! The winner rushed home and rummaged through her wheelie bin, finding the ticket enabling her to cash it.
She says she was shaking so much that when she got back to the Betfred Shop, the staff made her a cup of tea to calm her down! It’s little wonder she needed calming down as the winning ticket was part of a 10-week cash giveaway promotion at Betfred, and as it had rolled for several weeks, she was in for a win worth a massive £66,000!
The first thing the lucky winner did when she realised she had won the prize is remind her partner she wanted to get married! The couple have been hoping to marry for years, and now they finally have the money to do so, with a fair bit left over for a few treats too!
This story stands as a stark reminder of the amount of unclaimed lottery prizes that appear over the festive season. It’s such a busy time of year that it’s easy to forget that you bought lottery tickets and with so much clearing up to be done, they can get thrown away. If you bought tickets for any of the Christmas or New Year lottery draws, then check the lottery results right now and start 2017 in the best way possible!