A lucky couple are celebrating scooping $1.2 million on the lottery after nearly missing out by forgetting to buy a ticket and then believing their win was a scam.
Ruth Giblin, 44, and her husband Rob, 48, landed the huge windfall after matching one of the U.K. Millionaire Maker codes on the Euromillions last month.
But Ms. Giblin almost forgot to buy the winning ticket on the day of the draw on July 22 and needed reminding by her husband while she went out to do karate.
And when she received a notification on the National Lottery app the following day, the
skeptical pair thought they were being scammed.
It was only when they called up Camelot to confirm their win that they realized they had become millionaires and immediately burst into tears.
Ms. Giblin, of Telford, a town in England, in the U.K., said: “Rob reminded me to put the EuroMillions ticket on, as he has to every week, whilst I was out.
“I bought it and promptly forgot all about the ticket and went straight to Karate that evening.
“The next morning, we got up early for a swim and I saw I had an email telling me I had good news about my ticket.
“When I logged into my National Lottery app, I could see I had only matched one number, but it was telling me I had won 1 million pounds [$1.2 million], I was very confused.”
Leisure center supervisor Ruth was convinced it was a con so proceeded to search for the phone number she needed to ring to check the win was real.
She added: “I was sure it was a scam, but when I saw it was the correct number for Camelot, I tried to phone it, only to find they were not yet open.
“Instead of waiting around, we decided to still go swimming. Although it was clearly all we could think about as every so often, Rob would stop and say, ‘what if it is real?!’.
“We talked all the way home about what we would do if it was true, but I was trying not to get my hopes up.
“When we finally called Camelot, they asked me what I could see and then they confirmed we were millionaires. We were just stunned and started crying.”
The couple then woke their two children up to share the good news and went across the road to Ms. Giblin’s parents to tell them, on what was her dad’s birthday.
The pair plan to keep their jobs but share their newfound wealth with the rest of their family including building an extension onto Ms. Giblin’s parents’ home.
They have also paid off their mortgage and will jet off on a luxury vacation together as well as buy themselves a new kitchen.
They are also planning to build a summerhouse for their 13-year-old daughter to use as an art room and a gaming computer for their 16-year-old son.
Ms. Giblin added: “This win means so much to us as a family.
“It means I get to help my parents by building an extension onto their house so there’s enough bedrooms for everyone to sleep in.
“My parents look after my sister who has additional needs so an extension will mean everyone can get a proper night’s sleep.”
Ms. Giblin winning EuroMillions U.K. Millionaire Maker code for the EuroMillions draw on Friday, July 22 was TLBX74150.
Produced in association with SWNS.
