Life changing

Kilmarnock lass goes in for change and comes out a winner

A call centre worker from Kilmarnock only went into her local newsagents to get change for a parking meter, but ended up walking out rich after winning big on a National Lottery GameStore Scratchcard.

Marilyn Scott, 27, only had a £10 note and decided to buy the £250,000 Purple Scratchcard for £2 to get some change for the parking meter. She was in such a rush to beat the traffic warden that she stuffed the Scratchcard into her bag and forgot about it until the next day.

Winner

Marilyn found the Scratchcard when she arrived at work the next morning and it was then she discovered her good fortune. She said, “When I saw it in my handbag I actually thought to myself ‘I could have been sitting here all day yesterday a winner’ – little did I know that I was right."

“Once I’d scratched it I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to ask a couple of my colleagues to check if it was real; I thought there might be a misprint. I was flapping about the office by this point and they told me to go back to the shop to find out.

“The newsagent told me I’d have to phone Camelot but it was only 8am and the phone line didn’t open until 9am. Everyone in the office was touching my lucky scratchcard and I was floating about on cloud nine.”

Jumping for joy

News of the win literally had Marilyn jumping for joy but it wasn’t that surprising to people who know her. “Once I’d made the call to Camelot I was jumping about the house with my mum. I phoned my stepdad, my two sisters and a couple of my closest friends. Mum had to head out to work, but I was still bouncing around!

“Most of the people I told said ‘That’s just your luck Marilyn’ because I win things quite a lot. I won £1,000 a few years ago when I texted in to a local radio station competition. At work recently there was a raffle for the top-performing staff and I won £1,000 of travel vouchers.”

Meet Marilyn

Down under

The travel vouchers came in handy as Marilyn used them to book a dream trip to Australia in December.

“My friend lives in Australia and she has been asking me to go over to see her for years. When I won the vouchers I thought now is my chance and booked flights. I have a working and travelling visa so I intended to stay a while but now it really is going to be the trip of a lifetime.

Disney dream

The travel plans don’t stop there with Marilyn intending to treat her mum. “When my sisters and I were young, mum always used to say to us ‘if I win the Lottery I’ll take you to Disneyland’. With the win I’m going to be able to treat her instead. It’s her 60th in October so I’m planning a family trip for then.

Marilyn is also planning for the future, once she returns from down under, “I would love to be a hairdresser so I am thinking about retraining. The win means I could even open my own shop eventually. It also means I can buy a house. I never thought I would ever have enough money for a deposit to buy my own home.”

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.

Discover more
Please wait