UK National Lottery: Syndicate Misses Out on Lottery Fortune
A school cleaner apologized to other members of his Lottery syndicate Friday after failing to put on a winning line that could have scooped them a share of an £8.5 million (US$16.2 million) jackpot.
The group of 15 staff at New College, in Telford, Shropshire, could have won more than £100,000 (US$190,720) each after their numbers came up in Saturdays draw.
But syndicate member Andrew Edwards said he did not fill in the 14th of the 15 lines on the ticket because not enough money had been paid into the pot to cover the cost of entering the draw.
He told BBC Radio Shropshire he took the line out at random after pulling the number from a hat.
The one line that would have won on Saturday wasnt put on, he told the station. I realized on Saturday night. I nearly collapsed.
I rang a few people on the Sunday, including my sister. She said, You will have to explain to them.
Mr. Andrews said the syndicate members were not happy when he told them and although he apologized, he felt so bad about the situation that he has not been to work since.
Four winners shared more than £2.1 million (US$4 million) each in the jackpot after picking the winning numbers 1, 4, 8, 26, 28 and 26, according to operator Camelot.
Syndicate member Marie Roy said, Gutted is not the word. I was quite calm to start off with. But as the weeks gone on Ive got more angry.
Mr. Edwards added, I can definitely say that winning line didnt go on for New College. I have not got it.
And responding to how he was going to build bridges with his syndicate colleagues, he added: I know most of them are really angry with me, which is right.
I hope I can make amends. I know I cant. What has happened has happened. But I will try. I will go back to the people I spoke to personally and say I am very, very sorry it happened to us.