Life changing

'Appy days for Kent £1Million EuroMillions winner

A young man from Ashford has dispelled the Friday 13th myth by banking one of 13 £1Million prizes from the special EuroMillions draw on Friday 13th October 2017. And he won it playing via the app on his phone.

Charley Horton, 22, who works maintaining railway infrastructure, says he has his girlfriend Emma Fisher, 20, to thank for the win after she reminded him of the special draw.

“We were enjoying a meal on Friday 13th, before going to the cinema to see the newly released horror, The Ritual. Between courses Emma mentioned the Friday 13th EuroMillions draw so we each bought a ticket using the app, joking that maybe Friday 13th would be lucky for us.”

Spooky

Late in the evening Charley was back homing watching 'The Fast and the Furious', daydreaming that if he won he could buy all the cars in the film. “Thinking about it, that daydream was about the same time I would have received an email from Camelot to say there was news about my ticket…spooky!”

While Charley’s subconscious might have been telling him he was a winner, his conscious self didn’t discover the win until Saturday morning. Logging onto his account, Charley discovered he had won £1Million.

“From that moment on it’s been a bit of a haze, it’s totally crazy. Once Camelot confirmed the win on Saturday morning I told my mum and sisters, all of whom said it was bound to happen to me as I am so lucky. I always thought I was lucky, I do alright if ever I have a little flutter, but £1 million is off-the-scale lucky!”

Back to work

Despite winning a life-changing amount, Charley was back at work that night, travelling to Bognor Regis with his team ready for work the following day. He had already posted on Facebook about Friday 13th being lucky for him with a screen grab of the code.

“Some of the lads had worked out what had happened. When I got in the van they were joking with me about being a millionaire, and thought I was mad to be at work. But I like working hard and have no plans to stop so my 12 hour shifts will continue, and no doubt so will the millionaire banter from my work mates.”

A home

While Charley may have dreamt of a fleet of supercars before the win, now the money is in the bank his plans are a little more practical. First on the list is a new home to share with Emma and pay off the loan on his car, a VW Polo GT.

“The idea that I can buy a house outright and never have to pay a mortgage is amazing. This will definitely be the most important purchase on the list and while I was dreaming of fast cars, in reality I think I’ll stick with my Polo for now and make some solid investments for our future.”

There are also a few frivolous spending plans for the couple including a long-dreamt of trip to New York and some choice additions to his shoe cupboard.

“I absolutely love shoes, especially trainers. I have boxes of them, some of which I’ve never worn but I just can’t stop buying them. Since the win I’ve already bought two new pairs, if I carry on like this I will need to factor a shoe room into the ‘must haves’ in our new house!”

Charley bought his winning EuroMillions Millionaire Maker ticket using The National Lottery App.

20th October 2017

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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