Life changing

Landlord claims third giant cheque and shares win with mates

A pub landlord from Scunthorpe is celebrating after scooping £1M on the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker. Amazingly, Ian Brooke is the third person from The Mallard to win a £1M National Lottery prize.

Two years ago pub regulars, David and Kathleen Long, from Scunthorpe, became the first people to scoop a £1M prize twice on EuroMillions. Their first big win came in 2013 and the second in 2015.

Share and share alike

The win was celebrated by Ian with David and Kathleen, as well as his two friends, Andrew Enefer and Rashad Own. He always promised he would share with the pair if he ever won big.

Ian, 43, who has worked at the pub for more than 18 years, said, “Andrew, Rashad and I buy a ticket each every Tuesday and Friday. We always said to each other if one of us wins we will share the winnings – so that is exactly what I plan to do.”

Andrew, 49 and Rashad, 57, will each bank £125,000. And they say they already have their tickets for this Friday’s draw and have no intentions of stopping playing now.

Ian, who has four children, added, “The Mallard has to be the luckiest pub in the UK, if not Europe. Three big National Lottery wins in four years – it is absolutely amazing. I think David’s good luck and good fortune must be rubbing off on us all.

“We will definitely all be continuing to play – who knows, we could win again just like David – or perhaps our good luck will now rub off on other pub regulars who could bank a big win. This just proves that winning the lottery does happen to ordinary people like us.”

It's real alright

News of the win is still sinking in and it still doesn’t seem to be real said Ian. “I have to keep pinching myself and saying to myself that this really has happened to me and my friends.”

A holiday home in Benidorm is top of the shopping list for him, together with a car for each of his children.

Ian always leaves it a couple of weeks before checking his tickets and on this occasion he took eight tickets into his local Asda to be checked.

“When the cashier said one of my tickets was a winner but it was too much for her to pay out I thought I had maybe banked a few thousand pounds. I went home and watched a football match and didn’t even bother to check my ticket. I just thought great, a few thousand pounds will be coming my way.

“I called my son and said I thought I had won a few thousand pounds. It was only when I went online to look at my ticket later that evening that I realised I had the Millionaire Maker prize. I was literally jumping all over the house.”

Another big win for the 'luckiest' pub in the country

Disbelief at win

When Ian told his friends in the pub, no-one believed him at first.

“After discovering I had won £1M I immediately went down to the pub where my friends were drinking and took them into a back room. We always had a gentleman’s agreement if one of us won we would share the prize.”

For Andrew and Rashad the news is still sinking in.

Andrew, who owns a franchise tool company, said his share of the prize money will enable him to pay off his mortgage and buy a new car. “It will just give me choices and make life so much more comfortable.”

Rashad, who is retired, said he plans to treat his family and can now enjoy a wonderful retirement.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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