Lottery Winners’ Weird Requests Revealed
Last Updated: Tuesday 2nd July 2019, 10:29
From delaying the delivery of an eight-figure cheque until the painters had finished their job to the new millionaires who put an electric cheese grater at the top of their wishlist, National Lottery winners’ advisor Kathy Garrett has revealed the odd requests she has received when presenting Lotto and EuroMillions winners with their prizes.
When you win big on a National Lottery game, you must first ring the claims line and, during the conversation, you will make an appointment to see a winners’ advisor to validate the ticket. This meeting could take place at a regional lottery centre, but most are arranged at the winner’s home. The process takes around two hours and the money can be in your account within a couple of hours, with the advisor able to offer you a cash advance if you would like to get the party started immediately!
“A man won £35million recently,” Kathy recalled to The Sun, “and he had the decorators in so he didn’t want me to come over until the work was done. He was the most chilled out person about winning.” On another occasion, Kathy was validating a £1.6 million win by a butcher who kept nipping out to sell turkeys to customers as it was during the run-up to Christmas and he wanted to honour his orders even though he was a brand-new millionaire.
As part of her job, Kathy learns about the often bizarre purchases lucky winners plan to make. “People want to buy all sorts of strange things, but the cheese grater was the most unusual thing,” she says, “it’s just something they could splash out on.” This week, Geoff and Judith Coombes of Southampton received a £1 million cheque after matching one of the winning Lotto Millionaire Raffle codes in the draw on Saturday 21st May and announced that, before the usual football season tickets and tropical holidays, the first thing they will splash out on will be a new lawnmower, which has been recently discounted!
Despite spending her days paying out large sums of cash to other people, Kathy isn’t jealous of the winners, insisting, “I just love being part of that winning experience - I see what a difference it makes to people’s lives. The best thing about a big win is the choice it gives people to do things and make life a bit better.”
For a chance to scoop a massive lottery prize, and maybe meet Kathy too, you can buy EuroMillions or Lotto tickets online or from authorised retailers.