Winners

George’s marvellous Scratchcard win

George Bates, a heavy plant operator from Essex, has enjoyed the ultimate Friday feeling after he revealed a £250,000 top prize on a National Lottery Scratchcard.

George was enjoying a pint on a Friday night (before the new lockdown was announced). He said, “That first pint on a Friday is always something to look forward to, even these days when we are social distancing – but I can tell you, adding winning £250,000 into the deal makes it quite a bit sweeter!

“I’d just got a pint and sat down at my table when I remembered the Scratchcard I’d bought a bit earlier at the village Post Office. As I revealed the £250,000 prize symbol I leapt up and started to shout and cheer, I was buzzing!”

With the pub manager rightly sticking to current rules, George was told to sit back down at his table and asked what all the fuss was about. When George showed him the winning Scratchcard the manager, along with the rest of the pub, cheered at George’s good fortune.

George said, “I’d bought the Scratchcard earlier that day, shoved it in my pocket and carried on. I can’t believe I was jumping in and out of the car, and all the time with the equivalent of £250,000 in my pocket. Once I’d seen what that little piece of card was worth, I pretty promptly finished my pint and headed home to tell my mum, and give it to her for safekeeping.

“Telling my mum was epic; my brother was there too, and we were just whooping and shouting – I think my mum was in total shock. I confirmed the win with Camelot and signed the back and gave the Scratchcard to my mum, knowing it was definitely safer with her than me! It was an amazing feeling all weekend, rounded off nicely with me being able to treat my mum and two brothers to a slap-up Sunday lunch at the pub.”

George is now making plans for his future. He said, “This really is a life-changing opportunity for someone of my age, and if I do it right, it will help set me up for life. I’ve just completed a training course so I am licensed to operate larger machinery; now I can go self-employed almost immediately. Long term, I’d like to travel; there’s a crazy plan to maybe go to North America and drive diggers in the goldfields. Given my luck on this Scratchcard, maybe I should try my luck there!

“But in the short term, I’m going to put it all into investments, keep living with my mum and brothers, but keep a little [money] back. Maybe a few more meals out – when that’s safe to do again – and I’m thinking a hot tub for the back garden would be nice too.

“It’s been a rubbish year, this is a pretty awesome way to finish it off –we’re going to have one hell of a Christmas!”

12th November 2020

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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