Most of us never get to experience that feeling of seeing all six of our numbers come up on the National Lottery.
But Mark Fletcher, 49, did get to feel that thrill, that buzz, that sensation that he was suddenly £11 million richer. Only he wasn’t.
In fact, after a 45-minute phone call he eventually realised he was looking at the results checker and not an actual ticket that he’d bought.
However, it’s not just having the lottery bubble that irritated Mark – it’s the way he feels he was treated by the National Lottery call handler whose job it was to tell him he hadn’t won.
Mark, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, said: ‘When I rang them up to check I was on the phone for 45 minutes and the woman was adamant I wasn’t a winner.
‘Then I asked why it was telling me I’d won and if there was a fault with the app, and they denied that also.
‘I felt as if I was being put under a lie-detector. She kept saying, “You haven’t bought that ticket, have you Mark?”.
‘When people play the Lotto, they think it’s a trustworthy service but I’m doubting that now. They’ve not shown any empathy towards me.
‘It has impacted me – I’m left thinking about all the “what ifs”‘. If they’ve told me I’ve won but in actual fact I’ve won nothing, it’s a bit cruel and I’ve had sleepless nights.’
A spokesperson for Lotto operators Allwyn said: ‘Players can select any set of ‘my numbers’, save these in their app account and then go into the app and check them against any previous draw.
‘It has nothing to do with whether a player actually played the numbers or not – and, in this case, the player did not play this set of six numbers via his online account for the draw on June 29, or indeed in any draws prior to the draw on June 29 taking place.’
In 2009 a conman cashed in a fake lottery ticket to claim £2.5 million. Convicted rapist Edward Putman conspired with a Camelot insider to get the money that he spent on luxury cars and properties in Florida and Malta. His co-conspirator killed himself after confessing to a friend.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.