Erith Lotto Jackpot
Last Updated: Thursday 22nd January 2015, 09:26
A Lotto jackpot worth £2,964,163 has been won by a couple from Erith in Bexley, despite the fact that the man who bought the winning Lucky Dip ticket very nearly didn’t.
Arthur Wright, who is a Process Operator for the GlaxoSmithKline company, had considered skipping the Lotto draw for Wednesday 27 February because he didn’t really feel like stopping at the retailer as he made his way home from work.
“I was travelling back from work and looking forward to getting home,” Arthur said, “so I contemplated not buying a ticket, but something made me change my mind and go out of my way to the newsagents in Erith. I’m so glad I changed my mind!
Like many jackpot winners, Arthur had a difficult time accepting reality when he discovered that all six of his numbers had come up.
”When I checked the numbers in the paper the following evening I thought someone was playing a practical joke,” he said. “So I checked online, on the TV and everywhere I could think of to confirm the numbers. Then I started to realise that it was either a very elaborate joke or we really had won!”
Arthur immediately wanted to tell his wife Jackie that they had won almost £3 million, but she was shopping with her daughter at Lakeside in Grays, so he had to do so by telephone.
“I phoned Jackie to tell her and she thought we must have made a mistake,” Arthur said. “I knew she must have been in shock because when she got home she said she hadn’t been able to shop properly because she was so distracted!”
Arthur and Jackie, who will be grandparents for the first time later this year, have said that they will be organising a family holiday to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. How they might spend the rest of their fortune is something the couple will be considering for quite some time...