A LOTTERY expert has revealed what really happens when you win a massive lotto jackpot.
Anita Perez has clocked up 16 years with National Lottery, and has told countless people they’re millionaires in her time.
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She works as a call centre operator and says it’s a job filled with emotion – she often has lucky punters celebrating and “crying happy tears” over the phone.
Anita has now revealed what actually happens when you win big, as it’s more complicated than you think.
As part of her role, Anita is regularly picking up calls from people who think they may have landed a whopping prize.
There is still a lot of secrecy around the process of checking a ticket, but Anita did share the basics.
She told The Mirror: “We cannot share certain aspects but rest assured, the process is incredibly rigorous to ensure no stone is left unturned when it comes to confirming someone is the legitimate ticketholder.”
Anita said the inital stages include finding out which shop the ticket was bought in – as well as what day and what time – to cross-check the details.
She said: “If this information is correctly provided, the claim is further investigated and when all checks have been passed, the claim is validated and paid out.
“The most important thing for ease of validation is to be in possession of your ticket and the required validation information.”
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Anita continued: “So we check all the details in order to confirm the win and it’s amazing when you can do that.
“You end up sitting up straighter a little bit, there’s all this excitement.”
One of her most memorable phone calls was when Les Scadding landed a £45.5m EuroMillions jackpot in 2009.
Anital recalled Les’ account was £68 overdrawn and he worrying about how he was going to pay his mortgage before the win.
After his win Les said: “I had grafted for years as a lorry driver and my only reward was a bad back after working six days a week.
“Then I spent two pounds on my Lottery stake and my luck changed forever.”
