Irish road worker wins GBP 4 million on a scratch card

Ross Hearst, a 35-year-old Northern Ireland road worker, turned a GBP 10 scratch card win into a GBP 4 million fortune this week when instead of spending the cash from the original win he used it to buy the sole remaining National Lottery Blue scratch card in the convenience store.

It turned out to be a hugely rewarding decision when the Blue card delivered a GBP 4 million win.

“It’s really unbelievable,” Hearst told reporters this week. “I would normally buy a scratch card every week, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever dream of winning such a huge amount.

“In fact, I had just won a tenner on a scratch card and when I was in the store, I decided to exchange it for a GBP 4 Million Blue scratch card. I don’t normally buy the GBP 10 scratch cards, but this one was the last one on the shelf so I just had an urge to buy it.

“It was lunchtime and when I went back to work, I scratched the card and just couldn’t believe it when I won. I was so excited that when I tried to ring Camelot to verify the win, I kept pressing the wrong buttons on my phone.”

The shocked and excited punter also tried repeatedly to phone his pregnant wife Jocelyn, and when he finally did get through she thought he was pulling her leg and hung up.

The Hearsts are a firmly grounded couple who say they will not be making any rash decisions on their life-changing win.

“We’re expecting our first baby in April so this win has just come at such a perfect time,” Hearst said. “Our baby, and our life as a family, will have such a perfect start. Words can’t describe it. It’s just amazing.

“Obviously, we’ll make sure that our baby has everything she needs, but we won’t be making any rash decisions as to how we spend our money,” he said.

“I’ll take a career break from work – who knows, I may want to go back some day – and I plan to invest it wisely but haven’t really had time to think about how just yet.

“I’m not a great flyer so I think we’ll book ourselves a nice cruise holiday and I’ll definitely buy myself a new car.

“Jocelyn says she’s going to buy a new hoover so I think that shows how sensible we’ll be with our money,” he added.