A lucky retiree doubled his money when he accidentally bought two lottery tickets—and won nearly a million dollars.
The 65-year-old reckons he pressed the wrong button when purchasing the tickets online, and ended up ordering two tickets instead of one.
But Allan Taylor’s blunder turned into his favorite mistake when he was presented with two checks for £333,333 each ($450,000)—nearly $900,000.
His whopping windfall was the biggest prize so far this year for a single player of the Postcode Lottery, which is a subscription-based UK lottery where players use their residential postal code as their ticket to win cash prizes.
“I must have ticked it twice when I was subscribing,” said Allan, who lives in Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England.
“This was the best mistake I’ve ever made.”
His wife, Bev, remembers asking Allan why he had two tickets and he said, ‘I don’t know’.
His big win comes just weeks after the couple retired early after months of carefully planning the next chapter of their lives.
Bev, who had a stressful job as a dementia mental health nurse, said she still can’t believe it.
“We’ve worked all our lives and just both retired in March. I did wonder if I should have finished so early or stayed on until my state pension (kicked in). We worked it out that it would be ok.”
Allan, a former building maintenance worker, believed it was time to retire “to make the most” of their lives.
“This is proper unbelievable,” he exclaimed. “I’m 66 this year and I retired a bit earlier than my state pension age. Now I’m not going to worry at all.”
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“I’m absolutely speechless, to be honest.
“You never really expect to win.
Allan shared the one-million-pound pot with one other neighbor in Tupton, when S42 6AE was drawn in the lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize last Saturday—with each of the three tickets worth £333,333, and Allan doubling his prize.
“We were expecting a reasonable amount, maybe £10,000 to £20,000. But we were never in a million years expecting this.
“When I opened the second check my legs wouldn’t work. But it’s a nice feeling.
“It’s going to enable us to help other people which is what we’ve always wanted to do. We’ll help a lot of family and friends.”
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The couple also plans to use some of their winnings traveling the world and treating their family.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, but Allan said he would never go unless we fly business class.” Now they can afford the upgrade.
“My son is getting married in three weeks; this might mean a bit of an extra wedding present.”
Car fanatic Allan mused that he’d always wanted an Aston Martin, but now at his age he figures he could get into the sports car, but might not be able to get out.
“Maybe a Range Rover now!”
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