I won £1million on lottery scratchcard by MISTAKE – then kept the news secret from my family & carried on as normal
A LUCKY Brit who scooped up a whopping £1million on a lottery scratchcard by mistake revealed he kept the news secret from his family and carried on as normal.
Luke Harris purchased the £5 Merry Millionaire scratchcard on a whim after going out to buy some bread.
The 34-year-old and his fiancée Alison Coke shared that they had only moved into their Canterbury home three months before winning the hefty cash prize.
Luke from Kent said: “We only moved into our new house three months ago – that was by fluke.
“We hadn’t considered the area, but the estate agent sent it through to us by mistake and we decided to look at it – we ended up loving it.
“We put an offer in, and it was ours.”
The engaged couple also said that they had to keep the exciting news of their lotto win from their kids and carry on as usual – since it was a school night.
Alison, 34, told the Kent Messenger: “It was bath and bedtime for the kids while we tried to contain ourselves.
“We both had work the next day and the kids had school, so we just carried on as normal.”
Luke revealed that he only bought the ticket after realising his kids needed bread for their packed lunches the next day.
While at the shops, he decided “on a whim” to fork up a fiver for a scratchcard.
He said: “I scratched it as soon as I got in the car. I looked at it about 10 times, and kept saying to myself: ‘This can’t be real.’
“I try my luck on a scratchcard now and again, but I never imagined I would win that amount – I would have been happy with £10!”
Luke said 31 is his lucky number – as he and Alison went on their first date on August 31, 2020.
Sure enough, the last number Luke scratched off to reveal his prize was 31.
Alison and Luke have already splashed out on a Nissan X-Trail and plan to pay off their mortgage.
The family are mulling a Christmas trip to Lapland – and have booked a skiing holiday next February.
They also are thinking of using some of the jackpot to upgrade their wedding venue.
Luke now plans to go back to college before starting his own business.
But he said: “I keep thinking someone is going to take it all away from me and tell me it’s a prank.”
The scratchcards with the best odds
When we checked, the £5 Snack Stack National Lottery scratchcard has the best overall rating on the site at 99/100.
Your odds of winning at least some money back are one in 3.49 – though this could be a small prize.
The top prize is £1million and all four cards that could see you bag the jackpot are up for grabs.
Despite all prizes being available, your odds of bagging it are just 35 in 2,432,550.
A higher algorithm rating doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re more likely to win the top jackpot though – it just means it’s the best score based on all the factors considered.
For example, the £1 Blazin’ 7s scratchcard algorithm rating is just 16/100 – but you have fairly decent odds of winning the top prize of £7,000.
Plus, all five of the top prizes, which are worth £7,000, are still on the market and it costs just £1.
The £100,000 a month for a year scratchcard, which costs a fiver, is the best card to buy based on odds alone.
You have a one in three chance of winning any prize, which ranges from £5 to a total of £1,200,000.
The scratchcard with the best chance of a return for the player is the £100,000 A Month For A Year, which costs £5.
In gambling terms, this is the amount of money you can expect to receive from your bet if your prediction turns out to be correct.
If you pick up this card, you have a 70.95% chance of getting a return.
Meanwhile, your odds of getting a top prize are just two in 5,614,524.
The scratchcards with the worst odds
The £1 Money Multiplier and £3 Mega Multiplier both have a 0/100 algorithm rating.
This is because none of the top prizes on these scratchcards are still up for grabs.
Will Love, who created the website, previously told The Sun that scratchcards can still be sold even if the top prize has already been won.
On the Money Tree Multiplier, you still have a 1 in 4.18 chance of winning any prize other than the jackpot.
While the Mega Multiplier has slightly better odds at 1 in 3.69.
The scratchcard with the worst odds is £100,000 red, which costs £1.
Your odds of winning any prize is 1 in 4.26, with the lowest prize being just a quid.
An Allwyn spokesperson said: “There are no guarantees and we don’t want players spending more than they can afford.”
The Sun has previously revealed your odds of actually winning the lottery and your chance of scooping the jackpot.
Crucially, you should always gamble responsibly and never bet more money than you can afford to lose.
If you’re worried about gambling and need to talk to someone you can contact organisations including the NHS, GamCare, and BeGambleAware.