A warehouse worker from Gloucestershire, England, was doubly lucky last week when he began clearing out his old wallet and discovered a EuroMillions ticket worth £51,232.90 a day before it was due to expire.
James Wilson, 28, found out he'd won when he checked the numbers online and discovered his ticket matched the five main numbers from the March 28, 2014, EuroMillions drawing.
"I called Camelot straight away but because it was so late in the evening, their lines were closed until the morning," Wilson said. "I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I got through to someone the following morning and they confirmed that I wasn’t too late to claim my prize."
When he began talking to the National Lottery advisor, the lucky winner was surprised to learn Camelot had been placing announcement in the local paper for the last six months.
"I had no idea. It was purely luck that I stumbled upon the ticket before it expired," Wilson admitted.
Wilson recently got married and he and his bride have been struggling to save up a deposit for a house so he already has some definite plans for his lotto windfall.
"This win will make such a massive difference to us," he said. "We worked hard and managed to save up for our wedding but couldn’t afford our own house too. Now we can start house hunting and hopefully afford a couple of treats along the way."
