A GRAN won a hefty share of a £1million lotto jackpot after a stupid mistake meant she quadrupled her winnings.
Geraldine Regan from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, split the £1million People’s Postcode Lottery jackpot with 19 neighbours but secured an even larger share of the prize through a simple error.
Geraldine Regan decided to purchase an additional People’s Postcode Lottery ticket when she retired after having played with just one previously.
But when she signed up, she accidentally ended up with four tickets instead of the intended two.
The blunder meant that when ML5 3PL won the Postcode Lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize on Saturday, August 31, she quadrupled her winnings.
The retired insurance worker said: “I always just played with one ticket.
“But when I retired I thought I would up it to two but hit four by mistake.
“When I went on to try and change it back to two, I thought I couldn’t be bothered so I just kept them all.”
She added: “It feels amazing and surreal, but I’ll keep on playing with four tickets.”
Geraldine shared the £1m prize with 19 neighbours in Coatbridge who had a combined 26 tickets between themselves.
Every ticket was worth £38,461 but Geraldine won four times that with her multiple tickets, securing a whopping £153,844.
Three other players doubled their prize to £76,922 with two tickets each.
Now Geraldine and retired husband Paul, 62, are planning to treat themselves on a trip they’ve already booked to Gran Canaria to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
She said: “It’s our Ruby Wedding on Saturday and we’ll be in Gran Canaria. We’ll go for a nice meal somewhere posher for our wedding anniversary. And it’ll be champagne instead of Cava.”
The couple, who met at school, are also dreaming of more sunshine-filled breaks – as well as helping out their family.
Mum-of-two Geraldine said: “We’ll get a couple of more holidays and treat the family.
“They deserve it. I’d love a family holiday.
“Paul loves Las Vegas. We went to see Rod Stewart there and saw Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I want to go back to New York. I’ve always wanted to see it near Christmas.
“We like cruises, but we’ve only ever done the Med. We were on one in May, but we could go further afield now.”
Paul added: “We’ve got a week in the sunshine to think about it.”
For just £12 a month, players can sign up through the official website to have a chance of winning millions of pounds.
Once signed up, players are automatically entered into every draw and prizes are announced every day of each month.
Tickets play for the Daily Prize, worth £1000 and revealed every single day.
Tickets could also win a jackpot of £30,000 for Saturday and Sunday’s Street Prize draws.
People’s Postcode Lottery also offers a £3million Postcode Millions draw each month – where your ticket plays for a share of the cash prize fund.
Winners are notified by email, text, post, or phone call, depending on the prize they win.
Jackpot winners are visited by the lottery team in person.
