I called everyone I know to brag after being told I won lottery jackpot – but I only got £6…I’m furious

A SAD lotto player was left “devastated” after thinking he had won a £50,000 jackpot – only to discover he netted just £6.

Supermarket worker Dean Smethurst, 32, boasted to his friends and family about the mammoth win before he learnt the truth.

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The not-so-lucky gambler went to a Tesco supermarket in Farnworth, Lancs, to have his lotto card checked and a message came up on the till saying he had won.

After being told to call Camelot – as the apparent winnings were too large to be paid out upfront – he checked the money-firms terms and conditions where he discovered that the till’s message usually displayed when punters had won upwards of £50,000.

Thinking he was about to have a wad of dosh sent to his bank account he started making grand plans on where to spend it.

At the time, he said: “I’d gone in to do a bit of shopping and I thought I’d check to see how I’d gone on in the previous Saturday’s draw.

“The receipt said I’d won a prize the store would not be able to pay out and that I should contact Camelot immediately.

“All the other staff applauded me.”

But he had to wait anxiously until the next day – when Camelot’s phone lines opened – to claim his winnings.

“I didn’t sleep because I was so excited.

“My house is like a building site at the moment so that was the first thing that I decided to spend my winnings on.

“Then I decided to treat the family to a luxury holiday to Barbados.”

But the next day, and in what should have been a call that changed his life, he was told that his numbers did not match and he had actually won three lucky dips – worth £2 each.

He said: “I never thought to check my numbers, I didn’t think a company as large as Camelot could have got it wrong, I didn’t understand.”

It was later revealed that because the Wednesday lottery draw was in progress while Dean had his Saturday ticket checked, the checkout assistant got that particular receipt message.

Dean said: “When I had purchased the ticket I had bought one for both the Saturday and Wednesday draw.

“As the Wednesday draw was in the process of taking place, it looks like this was an automated message instead which would have been given for any win.

“I was absolutely gutted, It is back to the drawing board now.”

At the time, a spokesman for Camelot said: “In this instance, the player attempted to claim a prize during a ‘draw break’, when National Lottery sales are suspended while a draw takes place.

“The prize couldn’t be paid out at that time – because the ticket was still entered into a ‘live’ draw – so a validation slip was printed instead.

“To clarify, this generic slip is used for a number of scenarios – it’s not exclusively used for high-tier prizes.”

Luckily, Dean was not in work on the devastating day so he could rest easy knowing he didn’t have to face his colleagues – and relied on his mum to whip him up some comfort food.

He said: “I just watched television and my mum made me some comfort food, which wasn’t much comfort.”

He’s not the first disappointed lotto player, punters all over the country have had false wins that they hoped would change their lives.

One couple thought they had banked an incredible £182million – only to be told a payment issue meant they could not claim the prize.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk