I won £22m lotto prize but EuroMillions wouldn’t let me claim a PENNY due to ridiculous rule – we took drastic action
A CUNNING couple found an inventive way to keep their hands on a £22million lottery prize after being told they couldn’t claim it.
The pair of Brits, who have requested to remain anonymous, were holidaymaking in the South of France before they stumbled across a huge win.
Upon scoring the £22 million jackpot they were unable to cash it in immediately due to French lottery laws.
The pair called up the lottery organiser FDJ who told them they would have wait several weeks.
Without being allowed to cash in their prize straight away, the duo had to get creative with how they would keep their lucky numbers safe.
They told French newspaper The Connexion: “It was unreal. We couldn’t sleep at night, but we kept it in bed with us and we also took it to the beach with us and we had to take turns swimming.
“In our rental we even hid it under a pile of plates and in the furniture.”
The ticket was purchased in July as the couple were walking back to their rural holiday cottage in France.
The EuroMillions regulations meant they had to keep it safe for weeks before finally handing it in on August 07.
The couple were eventually able to exchange the ticket for a giant cheque and no longer had to keep an eye on the tiny ticket.
“We’re happy to know that we’ll be able to do good around us, help our families who sometimes need it, spoil our loved ones and travel with them.”
The winning ticket was chosen at Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées in a tabac, which is a traditional French corner shop selling mainly tobacco.
The tabac manager was also excited by the turn events and was happy that the shop was receiving lots of attention.
They said: “Word spreads fast around here. A lot of people started coming to see me. I’ve ordered a giant banner over three and a half metres wide to put on my roof, so it will be visible from the whole square.
“I’m quite proud.”
The EuroMillions is a transnational lottery, with the first draw taking place on February 7, 2004 through three organisations spanning France, Spain, and the UK.
The largest EuroMillions jackpot to date was 240,000,000 euros and was won last year.
Curse of lotto winners
Despite hitting the jackpot, countless UK lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and went on a spending spree, purchasing a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 home for her mum.
But she ultimately blew thousands on wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was found to be claiming Universal Credit after blowing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who was wearing an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket, immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom home in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on lavish home upgrades and dropped £49,000 on a BMW to park in his drive. He most notably invested £1million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him over his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4million from the divorce settlement. By 2010, he had declared bankruptcy.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara netted £1.8million on the National Lottery in 2005.
Quitting their day jobs, the couple enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motors and also splashed £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple divested into safer assets but the global financial crisis hit and rendered them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames – and all their funds dried up three years later.
Lee Ryan
Ex-jailbird Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launched in 1994.
It later emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout.
Once released he spent a decade enjoying his riches, even buying a helicopter and a £2million mansion but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee was dealt his final blow when he took an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his winnings in property, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loving couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they scooped a staggering £148million.
But just 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with both parties partly blaming stress on their mind-boggling win.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who ended up bolting with his money, 30 horses, a horse box, and a car he gifted her.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail, and last made the headlines in 2021 for claiming nearly £40,000 in furlough cash.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret scooped £27million in 2013 and became Northern Ireland’s biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted the huge fortune didn’t bring her any happiness.
She told local media: “Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.”
Tragically, in September last year, Margaret, by now in her 50s, was found dead in her home.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis proved Kay really had purchased the ticket.
But a little-known rule stipulating that lost tickets must be reported within 30 days meant they would never receive the cash – eventually putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.