Bowled Over By a Big Win
Last Updated: Wednesday 7th August 2013, 12:51
A couple who are mad about cricket are celebrating after they stumped up for two Lucky Dip lottery tickets in the August 26 draw and ended up catching a £2,436,040 share of the jackpot.
Annette and Terence Rook, who live in Reading, were already planning to visit Australia later this year, but their big win has meant that they can now upgrade to first class with all the trimmings.
Annette works as an assistant with accountancy company Ernst & Young, so she is no stranger to dealing with financial affairs. She discovered their good fortune whilst her husband was working outside in the garden, and now she has considerable finances of her own to think about.
"We always buy two Lucky Dips," she says, "but we never thought we would win. I checked the numbers on Teletext and had to go and get Terence from the garden, where he was mixing cement to lay a new patio. Neither of us could believe it, so we just kept checking the numbers over and over again. It is really only just beginning to sink in."
Apart from the holiday upgrade, the couple still haven't thought about what they intend to do with their fortune.
Annette explains: "We are thrilled and emotional. It's still a shock, so we haven't celebrated yet and it's hard to really think what we'll spend the money on. We will treat ourselves though. For a start, we had been planning to visit family in Australia at the end of the year. We'll definitely fly first class and we can have a longer trip."
And will the couple continue to stump up a few pounds for lottery tickets every week?
"We fully intend to keep on playing Lotto," Annette says. "We'll do Lucky Dips still - we used to have regular numbers but recently changed. It's worked for us!"
Well, it wouldn't be cricket to stop playing now, would it?