A mother-of-three has scooped a £1 million prize with a Lottery scratchcard – but almost threw it in the bin.
Katie Smythe, 24, had bought the ticket and only realised she had won the top prize when her friend noticed she had the winning number.
Katie lives with partner Nicky Butler, 26, (both pictured above) in a rented terraced house in Hengoed with their three children, aged five, four and one.
She scooped the Merry Millionaire Scratchcard jackpot in a local corner shop.
But if it hadn’t been for her best friend, who was with her when she bought the Scratchcard, Katie would have unwittingly thrown away her fortune.
Katie explained: “I was in the shop and decided to play the Scratchcard I had just bought. Even though I unveiled the jackpot number 25 which was worth £1m it didn’t sink in and I just kept on until I revealed all the other numbers.
“I got to the end and was just about the throw it away when my friend screamed ‘look what you’ve won’ and I just stared at it in disbelief.
“I rang Nicky from the shop, but he didn’t believe me. He wouldn’t even believe it when the shop assistant assured him I’d won.
“He only believed me when I got back to the house and showed him the card.”
Katie added: “I can honestly say that this is what dreams are made of. We have literally gone from having absolutely nothing to being able to buy whatever we want. It feels a little bit scary – but so very good all at the same time.”
The couple plan to move out of their rented three-bedroom terraced house and buy a home of their own, buy a couple of cars once Katie has passed her driving test, take their extended family on holiday to Disneyland – and get married.
“Nicky proposed to me a while ago, but we just haven’t been able to afford a wedding. Now, we’ll be able to have a wedding I could only ever have dreamed of,” added Katie.
“And what a Christmas we’ll all have. We’re a large and very close-knit family and we love our own company. We celebrated the win with two family parties and I can only think that Christmas this year will be such a special one for all of us now.”
Katie bought her winning Merry Millionaire Scratchcard in the Spar shop in High Street, Fleur-de-Lis.
I'm pleased for them but I hope they don't waste the money on expensive, luxury cars, homes too big for purpose and exotic holidays only to find themselves struggling later in life. It's sad but all to often we see stories of lottery winners who become excited with the money but spend it to quickly and then become poor pensioners.
They should invest and not spend. Obviously buy a house, get married and learn to drive but BE SENSIBLE. Invest most of it.
Congratulations hope you have fun spending it,and of course invest a little for the future!