My favourite thing about playing scratch cards is the expectation; for a brief moment, I’m dreaming about spending that life-changing jackpot. As I scratch away, I’m mentally deciding if the Lamborghini should be red or yellow? The dream doesn’t last long; I quickly realise that my £2 win won’t buy me a Lamborghini keyring.
However, for some lucky people, the dream becomes a reality. These scratch card winners experience what it’s like to win big, really big. So without further waffle, let’s look at some of the biggest winners.
BRITAIN’S BIGGEST WINNERS
We start with British winners; the first £1 million Scratch Cards hit the shops in June 2001. Since then, 1000s of people have won big playing the National Lottery scratchcard games. Below, we look at some of Britain’s biggest winners.
Amadou Gillen (£4 Million)
Mr Gillen scooped a £4 million jackpot in 2016. The Wetherspoons kitchen manager popped out of work to buy a pack of cigarettes, and he picked up the fags and two £10 scratch cards from the corner shop. He won £20 on the first card and £4 million on the second!
Amadou said: ‘When I saw the number ‘4’ on the card I knew they didn’t pay out £40, so I knew it had to be £4million.
‘I scratched off the rest and oh my, I was so excited – but I put the card back in my pocket, and went back to finish the rest of my shift.
Earlier this year, Mr Gillen got married in Sweden. Well, it’s easier to find love when you’ve got £4 million in your bank account.
Simon Rustage (£3.75 Millon)
In 2014, Warehouse worker Simon Rustage won big on the National Lottery ‘Mega Rich’ card. The top prize was £250,000 paid out each year for a total of 15 years. Mr Rustage celebrated his life-changing win with his partner of 14 years, Jacqui.
He decided to splash out £10 on the winning card after landing a £120 football bet the previous day. ‘I don’t usually buy £10 scratchcards, they are a bit expensive,’ he told reporters. Adding ‘I was feeling lucky and thought ‘go on then.’
Mr Rustage’s windfall is the second big win at his workplace, a lottery syndicate at the warehouse scooped a £1.7m Lotto in January. I need to get a job with that company!
Ross Hearst (£4 Million)
Northern Irish road worker Ross Hearst won a life-changing jackpot back in 2016. Ross bought the £10 Million Blue card from his local shop in Lurgan.
He said: “It was lunchtime and when I went back to work, I scratched the card and just couldn’t believe it when I won. I was so excited that when I tried to ring Camelot to verify the win, I kept pressing the wrong buttons on my phone.”
Ross told the press that he planned to buy his wife a new hoover with the windfall. Steady on Ross! a fool and his money are soon parted.
BIG AMERICAN WINNERS
Mark Clark ($4 Million x2)
Rod Stewart sang ‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, and Mark Clark’s scratch card wins probably inspired him to pen the song.
The 50-year-old from the US state of Michigan, got lucky when he won a $4 million jackpot in 2017. The truck driver retired following his windfall but continued to buy scratch cards regularly. Three years later, he won the jackpot again! Another $4 million prize!
Talking to the press, Mark said, “After the first win, I retired from my job and spent a lot of time fishing,” I’m just surprised Mark hasn’t reeled in a Pirate’s chest while fishing. Some guys really do have all the luck.
Robert Stewart ($5 Million)
Not to be outdone by his fellow American Mark Clark, Robert Stewart took winning to another level in 2018. Robert won three scratch card prizes in a single day! One was worth a cool $5 million. The $5 Million Fortune game costs $30 per ticket and is the most expensive scratch-off card in New Jersey’s lottery.
Later that day, Stewart bought two more scratch-off cards, winning $500 and $100. I’m not sure why you’d buy two more scratch cards after landing $5 million? Leave some prizes for the rest of us!
Glenda Blackwell ($1 Million)
Glenda Blackwell Of North Carolina wanted to prove a point to her husband; she was annoyed that her partner was wasting money on Lottery and Scratch card tickets.
“I was going to be ugly and buy a scratch-off to show him they didn’t hit,” Blackwell said in an interview. Glenda had to eat humble pie when the card she purchased won the $1 million jackpot!
The couple now longer have to argue about money! They used the money to buy land and a home. “We’ve struggled a lot, so now we can buy our own home and our own land. It’ll be paid for and I don’t have to worry about that no more,” Blackwell told WLOS.
JACKPOTS REMAINING
If you want to win a jackpot, you’ll need to know what prizes remain on National Lottery scratch cards – there’s no point buying a card when someone else has already won the top prizes. Scratch Card Winners know how to play the system. You can see which jackpots are still up for grabs here.
JACKPOT KING NETWORK
Are you looking for big jackpots online? Let me introduce you to ‘Jackpot King’ – It’s a network developed by Blueprint Gaming to give slots and scratch card players access to mega-money jackpots. When you play specific scratchcards or slots at online portals like Paddy Power, the games will include ‘Jackpot King’ prizes along with the standard jackpot.
Players can win from £1 million to £5 million. Paddy Power offers the ‘Deal Or No Deal’ and ‘King Kong Cash‘ scratch cards with the added prize money. The jackpot drops at random, and anyone playing a ‘Jackpot King’ game could win it.
