Life changing

Sweet treat for daughter delivers a life changing win

A small Christmas treat for her poorly daughter led to something so much more for a mum from Basingstoke. She banked £1M on a National Lottery GameStore Scratchcard and is now planning on buying a new family home.

Tammie Pickett, 37, bought the Monopoly Millionaire 2016 Scratchcard which made her an instant millionaire from a convenience store when she popped in to treat her poorly little girl to some sweets. Little did the mum of four realise that her own treat would be quite so life-changing.

“My three year old daughter had just been for a doctor’s appointment when I decided to stop off at the shop to buy her a little something to cheer her up. It was payday and I have to admit I was feeling a little frivolous so I decided to treat myself to a couple of Scratchcards too.”

Coming out of the store, Tammie played her Scratchcard and revealed the £1 million winning symbol. In total shock and temporarily speechless, she ran back into the store, pushing to the front of the queue to say to the shop assistant, who is also a friend, that he needed to check her Scratchcard on the machine.

“Obviously I always play hoping for a win but never dreamt I’d reveal a £1 million prize. I was utterly speechless and even when I ran back into the shop I could barely make myself understood. Thankfully I know the shop assistant well - I used to work in the shop with him - so he immediately took the Scratchcard, put it into the lottery terminal and confirmed it was a very big win and I needed to call Camelot.

“I just burst into tears of joy, I couldn’t believe it and all the time my poor little daughter was worried something bad had happened; how do you explain to a little one that mummy has just become a millionaire?!”

Leaving the store, Tammie called her husband of six years, Ian, 35, who struggled to believe his wife had just won the top prize until she had sent him a picture of the winning Scratchcard.

New home

Tammie and Ian are now making plans for the future and top of the list is a new home to call their own. “Until now we have always been in rented accommodation, and the children have had to share rooms, now we can find our dream four-bedroom home in Basingstoke. It will be a home that the whole family can feel safe and secure in for many years to come. Forget perfume and socks, a new home is the absolute the best Christmas present for our family!”

While a lovely new home tops any Christmas wishlist, Tammie is also planning to treat husband Ian to his dream car – a Mercedes – while her two eldest boys will be put through their driving tests before mum buys each of them a new car too. For her youngest son, a bedroom of his own is a dream come true while the youngest of the family will have to wait until next winter for her treat, a trip to Lapland.

Tammie said, “We will all benefit from this win, but I’m keeping my feet firmly on the ground. A few treats here and there, then some careful planning for our future security.”

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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