Man who scooped £13m in lotto thought he’d won £25

A great-grandfather who scooped a £13.5m (€17m) lotto jackpot thought he had won just £25.

Peter Congdon, 67, won £13,538,113 after matching six numbers in last Wednesday’s Lotto quadruple rollover draw.

However, before buying a ticket, the widower was told by three different people that he would be lucky on the day of the draw after winning a small amount of money on National Lottery scratchcards three days in a row.

Congdon, from Truro in Cornwall, said: “As I was collecting my scratchcard winnings on Wednesday I bumped into someone in the shop who said: ‘Make sure you buy a Lotto ticket because if anyone wins that rollover, it’s going to be you.’

“I had two more very similar comments that afternoon and they were right — it was definitely my lucky day.”

He checked his results on the TV red button as soon as the draw was over on Wednesday night and recognised a couple of numbers straightaway.

“I thought I might have won £25,” he said. “Then I realised I’d matched six numbers and there was only one jackpot winner so I ran straight down to my daughter’s house and asked her to double-check.

“When she agreed with me, I came home and put my ticket in a book in the kitchen and made myself a cup of tea. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.”

The widower is looking forward to celebrating his good fortune with his family, which includes three children, 10 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, who all live nearby.

As well as treating his close-knit family, he has already been planning how to spend his money and has his eye on a new Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Congdon is also hoping to take his family on their annual holiday to Butlins.

A regular lotto player, Congdon always uses the same numbers — a mixture of birthdays, anniversaries, and lucky numbers.