Teachers ‘Finished Paint Job’ Before Claiming Lotto Jackpot
Last Updated: Tuesday 23rd February 2016, 13:51
Peterborough couple Gerry and Lisa Cannings have been named as the winners of the massive £32.5 million Lotto jackpot in the draw on Saturday 13th February. Coming forward to receive their cheque, the lucky husband and wife revealed that they only played the game after a visit to a fish and chip shop, and finding out that they had won did not change their plans for the next week.
Discovering that your Lotto numbers have come up and you are due to receive one of the biggest Lotto prizes in history might make most players forget about any home improvement projects for a few days, but Lisa insisted at a press conference on Tuesday that pushing on with a planned paint job felt like the right thing to do.
Lisa, a 48-year-old teacher, explained: “I know it sounds mad, but we had a guy in to paint the whole house. We'd been planning it for ages and had packed everything into boxes. We just thought it would be easier to wait, although it did mean that Gerry had to carry round the winning ticket in his wallet all week. It was very nerve-wracking."
Gerry, aged 63 and a retired teacher, bought five Lucky Dips after seeing a poster for the big jackpot at a fish and chip shop in the Slough area. He could not find the numbers on teletext later that evening, so he checked his numbers online the following morning and, despite seeing the results for himself, he needed to be convinced by his 11-year-old son that they had actually won.
Gerry and Lisa are delighted that the whole family will now be able to look forward to a bright future, which is set to include a trip to New Zealand as they are are all fans of The Lord of the Rings movies and hope to visit some of the locations where they were filmed. Gerry also has his eyes on a new car wide enough to fit all his golf clubs in.
The £32.5 million jackpot won by the Cannings comes just weeks after a record-breaking £66 million was split between two ticket holders in the draw on Saturday 9th January. The top prize was also scooped in the most recent game on Saturday as one participant won £6.7 million, and you can find all the recent Lotto Results here.
There will be a jackpot of £2.2 million up for grabs on Wednesday night, and tickets can be bought online or from authorised retailers. If you are lucky enough to win, you could follow Gerry and Lisa’s lead and plan a trip to the other side of the world, buy a new home or splash out on a few thousand tins of paint to completely reinvigorate your current place. Good luck!