A GREAT grandmother who won £333,000 on People's Postcode Lottery will only take home a third thanks to an age-old pact.
Thelma Lewis, 81, signed up for the lottery scheme after her two daughters and one of their sisters-in-law started playing four years ago.
But the group decided they would split the prize if any of them won.
That means that when she won a whopping £333,333 Postcode Lottery's weekly Millionaire Street prize on September 23 – only a quarter was her's.
She said: “I threw the phone to my daughter when the lottery phoned to tell me. I thought it was someone mucking about.
“I had been about to cancel it, too. I won’t be doing that after this.
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“I want to help the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren.”
And she laughed: “I might like a holiday, but I haven’t got a man to go with me and I don’t want to go on my own.”
Thelma will share the pot with daughter Kay English, 55, her big sister Helen Williams, 57, and Kay’s sister-in-law Ann Hughes, 71 – each bagging £83,333.
Mum-of-two Kay – who plans to help her family and push on with renovations at her new home – said: “Helen started doing the Postcode Lottery first and I signed up a couple of weeks later. We mentioned it to Ann and she started, then my mum.
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“We said if anyone had a small win, they would just keep it. But if it was a big win we’d share it between the four of us. But we never thought we’d have all the threes.
“This is a shock, but it has brought sunshine into our lives.”
She added: “We might all go on a cruise together to celebrate.”
Mum-of-one Helen – who lives in the same street as her mum, but has a different postcode – said: “We’re shocked and overwhelmed.”
Great gran Ann added: “I’ll sort my two boys out and think about holidays.”
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.
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