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10th October 2023
09:53am BST
A man who believed he had won £50,000 on the national lottery rang up everyone he knew to break the news - before realising he had actually won just £6.
Dean Smethurst had his national lotto card checked on May 8 and was told by a Tesco checkout operator he had won on the Saturday game, on May 4. She told the 32-year-old she was unable to pay out his winnings and he needed to contact Camelot.
This prompted Dean to check the terms and conditions of the Camelot website - where he realised this message was usually given for wins of at least £50k which couldn't be paid out in a retail shop.
In a state of shock, Dean - a supermarket manager who has played the lottery for six years - sped home before telling all of his friends and family the news.
As he began working out what he'd spend his winnings on, Dean "cracked open the bubbly", never He bothering to check his numbers against the draw.
When the lottery phone lines opened the next morning, Dean was given the devastating news that he was not in fact a big winner.
His win turned out to be three lucky dips on a future game - worth just £2 each.
"I didn’t sleep because I was so excited," Dean recalled.
"My house is like a building site at the moment so that was the first thing that I decided to spend my winnings on.
"Then I decided to treat the family to a luxury holiday to Barbados. I spoke to the checkout girl and gave her the serial number of the ticket.
"She inputted it and said: ‘Well done, you’ve won…three lucky dips’.
"I asked her if she was sure, and then I asked to speak to a manager. I am absolutely gutted. "I thought, ‘this is it, it’s for real, my numbers have come up’.
"I never thought to check my numbers, I didn't think a company as large as Camelot could have got it wrong, I didn't understand."
Dean's roller-coaster ride to riches began on Wednesday evening when he had his lotto card checked at the Farnworth Tesco store, Lancashire, - a store where he worked earlier in his career.
“All the other staff applauded me," Dean recalled.
“The receipt said I’d won a prize, that the store would not be able to pay it out and that I should contact Camelot immediately.”
Unfortunately, the phone lines were closed for the night so Dean had to wait until the morning.
When the Camelot phone lines reopened at 8am on Thursday an excited Dean, who is currently in the process of renovating his £100k home, made the phone call he thought would change his life forever. And it didn't.
Dean said: "When I had purchased the ticket I had bought one for both the Saturday and Wednesday draw.
"As the Wednesday draw was in the process of taking place, it looks like this was an automated message instead which would have been given for any win.
"I was absolutely gutted.
"It is back to the drawing board now."
A spokesman for Camelot said: “In this instance, the player attempted to claim a prize during a 'draw break', when National Lottery sales are suspended while a draw takes place.
"The prize couldn’t be paid out at that time - because the ticket was still entered into a 'live' draw - so a validation slip was printed instead.
"To clarify, this generic slip is used for a number of scenarios - it's not exclusively used for high-tier prizes."
Dean was relieved he had the day off on Thursday so didn't have to face his colleagues.
"I just watched television and my mum made me some comfort food, which wasn't much comfort."
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