TWO best pals scooped a whopping £160,000 each in the Postcode Lottery – but one woman nearly lost it all.
Sophie and Laura from Ringland, Norwich screamed down the phone at each other after discovering they had bagged the prize money.
The women, who have been friends since they were 12, live on the same street.
Midwife Laura told how Sophie got the call first and immediately grabbed the phone to tell her the life-changing news.
“We’ve been really excited together. She’s a really close friend. We have known each other since high school.
“Our partners grew up in this village together, we go on holidays together and they’re godparents to my kids,” Laura said.
Despite the excitement, Laura had a moment of panic as she thought she’d cancelled her subscription.
After checking her direct debits she realised that she paid the Postcode Lottery through PayPal.
“It would have been awful not to have won,” she explained.
The pair said how they’ve been trying to process the news and have already started to plan how they are going to splash their cash.
“We’ve been going over everything all week. We’ve been walking round the village at night and trying to compose ourselves,” said Laura.
People’s Postcode Lottery costs £12 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day.
People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws.
When that postcode is drawn, people holding the right tickets inside it win.
A minimum of 33% from each ticket goes to charity.
A daily prize of £1,000 is up for grabs, which can double to £2,000 if players have two tickets – and then people can triple winnings if they have three tickets
Laura said that she and her husband Tommy are thinking of visiting Yellowstone National Park in America.
“My husband loves the TV show,” she said, “I’d like to have a girls’ trip, me and my friend were talking about going to Ibiza for a weekend.”
This comes after another winner also thought they’d missed out on the huge cash prize.
Yu from Dartford, Kent won £250,000 but brushed initially it off as an Amazon voucher.
“It is the happiest day ever. I’m so excited.
“I feel dizzy because I thought I was winning an Amazon voucher.”
The Chinese Mandarin teacher’s big win came just hours before she jetted off to China to see her parents.
“I haven’t been back home for more than four years because of the pandemic.
“This has changed my life. I have no words to describe my feelings now.
“It is the happiest day ever. I’m so excited.”
