27 Oct Brentwood Man Plans to Make His £300,000 National Lottery Scratchcard Win Truly Life-Changing
A lucky man from Brentwood is celebrating after he revealed the £300,000 top prize on a Ruby Doubler Scratchcard from The National Lottery, and now has every intention of making it truly life-changing.
A qualified plumber, Sean Irwin (36), will be using some of his winnings to swap his wrench for a laptop, so he can retrain as a videographer. He said,
“It’s been a really tough couple of years, culminating in my dad losing his battle with cancer this summer, and if I’ve learnt anything from that it is to make the most of every opportunity. This win has opened up so many doors and will give me the security to explore a whole new career, so I’m going to do exactly that.”
Sean’s lottery-winning adventure began humbly enough, he had popped to the local shop to pick up some drinks for himself and a workmate. Paying for the bottles of water he had exactly £3 change so decided to treat himself to a National Lottery Ruby Doubler Scratchcard. Sean said,
“I jumped in the car ready to head back to the site with the drinks but before I started the car, paused to play the Scratchcard. I had only played half of it when I saw that I had matched two number 22s and revealed the prize symbol
for £300K. I thought I was seeing things, and checked, then triple-checked, I even read the rules on the back of the Scratchcard!”
Clearly not trusting himself, Sean drove steadily back to the site and called his boss, Bill, over to take a look at the Scratchcard. Hopping in the passenger seat, Bill agreed it looked like a winner and told Sean to call Camelot to confirm the win. He said,
“It was a classic moment, there’s me and the boss sitting in my little Ford Focus calling Camelot to confirm I’d won £300,000. After all the checks the lady at Camelot started singing ‘Congratulations’ and we both started to cheer, it was flipping brilliant!”
With the win confirmed, Sean is not only embarking on plans for a new career, he’s also making sure his mum is okay and that his future is secure. He said,
“I moved back in with mum and dad a couple of years ago, and have stayed ever since. The first thing I’m going to do is pay off dad’s funeral costs and buy a really lovely headstone too so that mum doesn’t have that worry looming over her. She’s been my biggest supporter so it’s the best feeling to be able to now support her a bit.
“I’m also looking to buy a flat, either to live in or as an investment, and then when it’s safe to do so again I am off travelling. I spent time in Australia and South East Asia, so may head back that way or perhaps I will explore South America instead.
“It’s an amazing feeling to know that if I am careful with this money, then the travels I want to do, the career I want to have and the security I need for the long term can all be achieved, and all thanks to £3 loose change!”
Sean bought his winning National Lottery Ruby Doubler Scratchcard in McColls on Ongar Road in Brentwood. The Ruby Doubler Scratchcard from The National Lottery has a 1 in 3.56 overall chance of winning a prize. The game costs £3 and prizes ranged from £3 up to the top prize of £300,000.
By playing any National Lottery game, players generate more than £30M each week for National Lottery-funded projects. This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nation’s athletes win medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. To date, over £43BN has been raised for National Lottery Good Causes, with more than 635,000 individual grants awarded.
