A WOMAN who changed the way she chose her lottery numbers before bagging £120,000 has told how she plans to splash the cash.
Sam Gray, 46, scooped £10k every month for a year on the National Lottery.
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The lucky banking worker from Whitely Bay, North Tyneside, matched five main numbers with her online ticket for the Set For Life draw on May 26.
As a regular National Lottery player, Sam was always a fan of Lucky Dip tickets and rarely selected her own numbers.
But this time she decided to take a chance on some chosen numbers that she had saved to her online National Lottery account.
These had been held for more than two years but she never thought to use them.
Astonishingly, the decision paid off big time and her “wildest dreams” became a reality in a moment that did not feel “real”.
She said: “Something inside me told me to go with the numbers I’d picked for myself over two years ago.
“I just couldn’t believe it when I logged on to my National Lottery account to see that I’d won – it didn’t seem real at all.”
Amid the elation, Sam left “a very garbled” voicemail to her partner and then amazingly parked her excitement and went straight back to work.
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She then had to get thinking what she would spend the money on.
For years the Geordie always joked with her pals that if she won the lottery, she would learn to drive.
But she doesn’t have to joke anymore.
She said: “I would say that in jest, not imagining in my wildest dreams it would ever actually happen.
“I have put it off for years, as owning a car always seemed out of reach so I never saw the point of having lessons.
“However, I have no excuse now so will be making a block booking and can’t wait to go shopping for my first car.”
Sam also plans to spend the next 12 months converting her loft into a home office to give herself a nice space to work from home.
And she’ll be splashing her cash in sentimental ways, too.
After losing her dad last year, Sam is now planning to take her mum back to Rhodes, in Greece, where the family used to holiday together.
She explained this is important for her and her mum so they can “relive” some precious memories and create new ones.
Sam explained: “As a family, we had some amazing holidays in Rhodes and it holds a very special place in my heart, especially now that my dad is no longer with us.”
Players can buy and check their tickets online by downloading the National Lottery app or at national-lottery.co.uk.
