BRITAIN’S unluckiest Lotto player thought he’d scooped £11 million only to discover he’d actually won nothing.
Mark Fletcher, 49, from Wigan, was over the moon when he checked the numbers on the Lotto app on his phone and saw he’d matched all six numbers drawn last month.
However, his joy quickly turned to despair when he realised the devastating truth.
Mark said: “I was a bit shocked when I checked the numbers and found they matched.”
“However, when I rang them up to check, I was on the phone for 45 minutes, and the woman was adamant I wasn’t a winner.”
Mark had been using the results checker on the app, not a ticket he had purchased.
Despite his excitement, his supposed £11million win amounted to nothing.
The unlucky player says his claims of winning were simply denied.
He said: “I asked why it was telling me I’d won and if there was a fault with the app, and they denied that also.”
“I felt as if I was being put under a lie-detector. She kept saying, ‘you haven’t bought that ticket, have you Mark?’”
Mark’s disappointment was compounded by what he felt was a lack of empathy from the Lotto operators.
He continued: “When people play the Lotto, they think it’s a trustworthy service, but I’m doubting that now.
“They’ve not shown any empathy towards me.”
A spokesperson for Lotto operators Allwyn clarified the situation, he said: “Players can select any set of ‘my numbers’, save these in their app account, and then go into the app and check them against any previous draw.
“It has nothing to do with whether a player actually played the numbers or not.
“And in this case, the player did not play this set of six numbers via his online account for the draw on June 29, or indeed in any draws prior to the draw on June 29 taking place.”
Mark’s unfortunate experience has left him plagued by thoughts of what might have been.
The despair following his almost-win has left him with “sleepless nights”.
He said: “It has impacted me – I’m left thinking about all the ‘what ifs.’ If they’ve told me I’ve won but in actual fact I’ve won nothing, it’s a bit cruel and I’ve had sleepless nights.”
The story serves as a stark reminder for lottery players to double-check their entries and ensure their tickets are purchased to avoid similar heartbreak.
Thinking you’ve won the lottery and then finding out otherwise is no doubt crushing, especially after you’ve gushed about it to all your friends.
One couple felt this heartbreak after boasting they had won a hefty £182million on the EuroMillions – but were “disqualified” for a devastating reason.
Rachel Kennedy and boyfriend Liam McCrohan, both from Hertfordshire, had played the winning numbers for five weeks straight before they eventually came up in a draw.
Rachel was notified by the National Lottery app that her regular numbers had come up and were a “winning match,” which made her think she had got a big win.
The business student told The Sun in 2021: “I went on the app and it said ‘Winning Match’ and I thought ‘Oh my God, I’ve won.’
“So I called my boyfriend Liam and my mum into the room and they couldn’t believe it either.”
But their excitement didn’t last long when they realised their win counted for nothing because of a devastating reason.
Elsewhere, sometimes losing lottery wins is out of the players hands, which was seemingly the case for a lottery player that believes they missed out on a hefty win due to a ticket machine “glitch”.
A responsible gambler is someone who:
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.
Players can buy Lotto tickets from authorised retailers across the UK or even enter draws online.
To play Lotto, you simply select six numbers between 1 and 59.
Draws take place on Wednesday at 8.30pm and Saturday at 7.45pm, so make sure to check what time ticket sales close.
However you choose to play, the steps you need to follow are the same:
