THREE pals have won £1million after starting a lottery syndicate during their apprenticeships.
Alex Gwynne, 28, Dan Phillips and Kyle Bowen, both 25, were studying electrical engineering when another group of students won £5,000.
3
Their lecturer joked that they should start their own syndicate.
Six years later the trio, whose syndicate is called The Apprentices, each picked up a third of a million with a lucky dip on a Euromillions draw.
Syndicate organiser Alex said: “We’ve all got good careers thanks to our apprenticeships through college.
“But looking at my bank account now, it does feel that our lecturer’s advice to create a National Lottery syndicate might have been some of the soundest.”
A lottery syndicate is formed when a group of people get together to put money into a pot for lottery tickets.
A syndicate manager will then buy the tickets and any winnings are shared out among the group.
Alex checked his lotto tickets for the February 3 draw and at first saw just a £2.40 win.
He said: “I scrolled down where my disappointment immediately stopped because I saw £1,000, then looked again and saw it was actually £1,000,0000. I was stunned, to put it mildly.”
Most read in Money
Alex called Dan who was just jumping out of the shower when his phone went.
He said: “Discovering I’d won a share of £1,000,000 was probably the best news I’ve had while stark naked.”
The three pals, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, met up for a few pints to celebrate and discuss how they were going to spend their windfall.
Father-of-one Alex has already splashed out on a new caravan for his young family so they can enjoy holidays in their favourite seaside destination, Llangrannog.
Having taken all his holiday allowance for the year, Kyle has no plans to spend and has invested his winnings for the longer term.
While Dan has bought a new car and plans to book a holiday before putting the rest away for the future.
They were studying at Colleg y Cwmoedd in Nantgarw, Caerphilly, when they set up their syndicate named after the TV show The Apprentice.
The trio say the money will help them with their “grown-up lives” in their early days working as electricians.
A National Lottery spokesman said: “They are three lovely lads who are very grateful they listened to their lecturer’s advice.”
3
3
