A man from Ware is celebrating a double dose of luck after his numbers came up in the Lotto draw on Saturday 8 June 2013 scooping £113,879 and the horse he had a flutter on earlier that day, Lucky Numbers, was first past the finishing post at Chester.
Robert Whichelow, 52, who matched five numbers and the bonus ball with his Lucky Dip ticket, cannot believe his good fortune and is delighted that what was already set to be a good weekend, turned into a life-changing great weekend;
“I’d been looking forward to the weekend because we had a 70th birthday party planned for my father-in-law who was visiting from Spain, little did I know that it would be quite such a memorably lucky weekend!”
Robert’s double dose of luck started on Saturday morning when he picked a horse from the paper called Lucky Numbers. He thought nothing of the name, placed his bet and then helped his wife Caroline, 44, with the party planning for that night. It was the following morning when he had an email from The National Lottery that he quickly discovered that he really did have Lucky Numbers!
“We were lying in bed enjoying a lazy Sunday morning when I had an email alert on my phone. I looked and saw it was a message from The National Lottery with news about my ticket. I’d won £5.70 on Friday’s EuroMillions draw so expected it to be a few quid, when I clicked on it I saw that it was a quite few quid – £113,879 to be precise!”
Robert showed the email to Caroline who couldn’t believe it at first. Once Robert had called to register his claim and the win was verified, the reality of the £113,879 windfall started to set in.
“My father-in-law and his wife were staying with us after the party and it was a surreal moment coming downstairs saying, ‘I’ve won the Lottery’! We were all in such a state of shock that we decided rather than sit about trying to come to terms with it, the best course of action was to go out for lunch and enjoy a few bottles of Champagne to celebrate.”
Despite the double dose of luck, Robert doesn’t think of himself as lucky but he does acknowledge that other people may think he is. “I had a win on the Lotto draw about ten years ago when I won £2,000 and I do occasionally get a winner when I have a flutter on the horses but in general I think you make your own luck. I play Lotto and have done since it started because I truly believe you’ve got to be in it to win it. Looking at my bank balance today, it seems to have worked for me!”
Robert has decided to invest £100,000 for his family’s security but in his own words, the rest will be spent on ‘having fun’. On the fun-list will be a Christmas trip to Lapland for the couple and their youngest daughter, while his three step-children will all enjoy a treat. Robert plans to be more actively involved in racing by joining a syndicate, and will also fulfil a dream to go deep sea fishing and catch a Blue Marlin.
A beamingly happy Robert said;
“It’s lovely that we have peace of mind with £100,000 invested but it’s also great that we will be able to have some fun too. Caroline wants to take our little one to Lapland and that can now be a reality while with a share in a racehorse we will both be able to enjoy the fun of a few days at the races watching our own horse run. Personally, the most exciting outcome is the chance to go deep sea fishing again. I went when we were on honeymoon in Mauritius and it was absolutely amazing. I promised myself one day I would go again and catch a Blue Marlin. Thanks to this win, I can now do that and I’m over the moon.”
Robert plays Lotto online at www.national-lottery.co.uk choosing three lines of Lucky Dips. The winning numbers on Saturday 8 June 2013 were 8, 9, 13, 17, 41, 43 and the bonus ball 14.
