BY GABRIEL PRINCEWILL
Camelot’s announcement yesterday that the huge winner of the £33m lottery prize has come to claim their money will surely boost lottery sales again.
Pessimism in the lottery grew following the announcement last year of an extra ten numbers to the lottery game accompanied by an extra £2 charge to displace the previous single pound charge for a shout of the jackpot. The unnamed winner has opted for anonymity.
As was always suspected, 48 year old Suzanne Hint, who initially claimed to be the rightful recipient of the massive lottery roll over jackpot, was not the winner. She was deceptively scheming a shortsighted plan to defraud Camelot of a life changing sum, but all was in vain. The lottery operator’s multi skilled team eliminated her very early on, and have eventually found their big winner.
A statement from Camelot, read ”Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, operator of The National Lottery, is pleased to announce that it has received a valid claim on the£33,035,323 jackpot prize from the Lotto draw on 9 January, 2016. The prize had previously remained outstanding in the City of Worcester.
”The ticket holder has chosen to remain anonymous and under its license to operate The National Lottery, Camelot has a duty of care to protect the anonymity of all National Lottery winners. Therefore no further details will be released about this ticket-holder’s claim”.
The National Lottery spokesperson added: “We’re delighted that the winner of this amazing prize has now come forward and we hope that they will enjoy their win. It would have been awful if the ticket-holder had missed out on this substantial and life-changing amount of money. We would like to remind all National Lottery players to check their tickets every time they play.”
Having been under the media spotlight for the past week or so because of the missing lump sum, the offices of Camelot must have been buzzing with joy and sensation. Asked what the mood there has been like, their spokesperson said ” the mood in the office has been good. Although we are not in the allowed to play the national lottery ourselves, we are in the business of making millionaires and raising millions of pounds for good causes, so that makes it a great place to work”.
The huge pay out of £66m shared by two very lucky punters is likely to revive interest in the national lottery despite the cries that accompanied the continuous roll overs accompanied with the extra ten numbers added to the original set of 49 numbers from which 6 lucky straight numbers previously afforded a new life to the winner.
