Lottery Winner Nearly Throws Away Winnings

A couple nearly threw away their chance at winning £66,000 over the new year, literally! A Liverpudlian mother of two, Joanne Joynson only just managed to salvage her chances at winning the massive windfall after initially tossing a Spanish Lotto ticket in the trash.

It only took the 37-year-old assistant tax officer a matter of minutes between retrieving the winning ticket and claiming her prize. After her interview with the local Liverpool Echo, this is what the excited winner had to say.

“It wasn’t so bad because the bin men had been to take away the Christmas rubbish so there was only one plastic bag in there so I found it quickly enough."

“I was shaking when I went back to the shop and they had to give me a cup of tea to calm me down.”

"I go in Betfred's every day and have a go on the Spanish or Irish lotteries, the 49s or the goals galore coupon. I have won bits before but never ever anything like this. We went to the pub, as usual, that afternoon to watch the Liverpool game against Manchester City but I just couldn’t concentrate having won so much.”

However, not everybody is that lucky. There are countless stories of people who have lost their winning ticket either through negligence, or just plain bad luck. While some stories have emerged of having lost their winning lottery ticket in washing machines, two of which remains dubious claims, there have been a few other technical glitches which have been the cause of legitimate losses.

Lottery Losers

David and Edwina Nylan are a bitterly disappointed couple who had their chance to become instant millionaires. However, a technical problem which prohibited them from topping up their account in order to enter a lottery number. This resulted in the entry not being verified as it was not registered on the automated system. The couple vow never again to play.

“We’ve got to accept it, we’ve got each other. We’ve been married 36 years, nothing’s going to change."

Marty and Kay Tott are another terribly unfortunate couple who had their chance to win over £3 million in the National Lottery. After seeing an appeal for missing winners to step forward to claim their prize, they quickly hurried to retrieve their winning ticket. Their story became international news when yet another scenario in which a technical glitch hampered a couple's millionaire status. The couple, infamously known as "The unluckiest couple in Britain," even had the backing of Tony Blair and Sir Richard Branson who took pity on the unfortunate pair.

However, there is yet another case where negligence on the part of a Lottery Commission caused the loss of a couple of friends' opportunity to win big. A New York duo, Salvatore Cambria and Erik Onyango, threw away their winning ticket after the New Jersey Lottery Commission website failed to update the results. The friends had apparently checked the numbers for the previous draw.

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