UK couple waits for house to be painted, then claims £32.5M lottery jackpot

Feb 25, 2016, 7:47 am (26 comments)

UK National Lottery

A Cambridgeshire couple who won £32.5 million (US$45.5 million) on the lottery have been identified — and they've revealed the bizarre reason they carried the winning ticket around for a week before claiming the massive windfall.

Retired schoolteacher Gerry Cannings, 63, and his wife Lisa, 48, were aware they had picked the winning numbers the morning after the draw — but didn't celebrate until days later as their house was being decorated.

The couple, from Peterborough, wanted to wait until they had unpacked the boxes at home before deciding what to do with the £32,534,188 — the second biggest prize in Lotto's history.

Lisa, who is also a teacher, said, "I know it sounds mad but we had a guy in to paint the whole house.

"We'd been planning it for ages and had packed everything into boxes.

"We just thought it would be easier to wait, although it did mean that Gerry had to carry round the winning ticket in his wallet all week. It was very nerve-wracking!"

The couple, who have three children and five grandchildren between them, bought the ticket for the draw on February 13 while visiting Gerry's parents Victor and Joan Cannings at their home in Datchet, Berkshire.

Gerry had popped out to buy fish and chips for his family from the Drunken Fish Shop when he spotted a National Lottery poster announcing the big rollover Lotto jackpot.

Feeling lucky, the keen golfer splashed out on five lines, and was delighted and stunned to find the next morning that they'd won the jackpot with the numbers 15, 16, 23, 39, 48 and 59.

Gerry said, "Dad does Lotto as well, plays the same numbers all the time and had a ticket that night too.

"So at about 10pm, Dad suggested we check the winning numbers. But we couldn't find them on teletext so went to bed.

"Sunday morning came and I decided to check the internet. I started looking down the lines I had and then saw that the first line was the same as the one on the screen.

"Next I saw there was only one winner and then it hit me 'Bloody hell we've got the whole lot!'

But he claimed his family didn't immediately believe his luck — only realising he was right when their 11-year-old son read out the numbers from the TV.

"I double checked it, reading it forwards and backwards," said Gerry.

"It just didn't seem real but it looked right. I went and found Dad but it was obvious he didn't believe me.

"I then went back upstairs to tell Lisa and said 'What would you say if we won the jackpot?' She can tell if I'm lying by looking into my eyes so she knew immediately I was being serious.

"It was only when our 11 year old son read out the winning numbers on TV and they matched did Dad finally believe me.

"Our son asked what it meant, I just said 'Daddy's won an awful lot of money!'."

The couple, who have been together for 13 years, immediately called Camelot to have the win confirmed.

Gerry said he has always dreamed how he would spend a lottery win, not actually believing that it would come true, but he and Lisa now hope to help their children and grandchildren financially.

The couple are on the lookout for a larger home big enough to sleep all the family at Christmas.

Gerry, a keen golfer, is also after a car wide enough to take his golf clubs and the couple, who are huge Lord of The Rings fans, plan to visit New Zealand to see where it was filmed.

Gerry added, "We can go where we want — and travel First Class too.

"After looking after the family, what this money brings is a chance to enjoy new experiences and see places we thought we wouldn't get to see."

The couple's win places them second in the Lotto rich list, just behind last month's biggest ever Lotto winners, David & Carol Martin, and one other anonymous ticket holder, who both scooped a £33,035,323 jackpot prize each in the draw on 9 January.

Gerry and Lisa are among the 88 ticket-holders who have scooped £1 million or more since October.

This includes jackpot winners and the guaranteed millionaires made by Lotto Millionaire Raffle in each and every draw.

Other lottery winners from the region include EuroMillions winners Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Haverhill, who are now in the Sunday Times Rich List with their £149 million fortune.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Cambridge News

Comments

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Congratulations to them.  Jolly good Smile

sully16's avatarsully16

Congrats to the happy couple.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Congrats to them.

Good thing he went out for fish & chips

Saylorgirl's avatarSaylorgirl

Congratulations to Lisa and Gerry!!  Have fun!

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulations Gerry & Lisa Hurray!

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

Who says fish n chips aint good for you?

myturn's avatarmyturn

Why didn't they remain anonymous, as is allowed in the UK? Maybe UK teachers aren't very smart?

VenomV12

People like them are dumb, I don't understand how you can carry around a ticket worth that kind of money for a week, so many things could happen. You could be robbed, it get damaged somehow, you forget it, whatever. At least put it in a safe or better yet a safety deposit box. 

Redd55

Lucky people! They had a nice life that got even better.

plumsage's avatarplumsage

Yes I am with you on that.  Traveling first class, congratulations!

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Congratulations to both of you lucky persons and also to your families!!

Snowman

faber98

funny how most people on here wouldn't even bother to play for a jackpot that low. they seem content with that amount. maybe people should readjust their thinking on jackpot size. yes, even a 2 million dollar jackpot is worth playing every day even with your last dollar or two. this waiting until it's 150 million or more before i risk my 2.00 is ludicrous. play every day people no matter what.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

its GBP £34M and equal to about $47.4M USD , plus tax free, nd not an annuity. so equal to an advertised US jackpot of $142.8 M, ie more than the next  mega ball

sookie's avatarsookie

Congrats to them!

Subscribe to this news story