An actor currently rehearsing for a play called The Bet landed the role of a lifetime when he found a forgotten lottery ticket in his car - worth tens of thousands of pounds.
Dion Davies, 47, was clearing out the rubbish from his car when he came across the EuroMillions ticket he forgot he bought during a production of Sleeping Beauty.
On a whim he took it to a nearby shop to have it checked and was astonished when he was told he had better call Camelot - because he had a winner in his hands, Wales Online reported.
Dion, 47, said: “I needed to clean the car both inside and out because it was in a terrible state after lots of journey so I took it to get valeted.
“At which point the guy asked me to take all of my belongings out before he started - just in case he threw away something that was valuable.
"I'm so glad he did because I found a multi lottery ticket in my sun visor that I had bought in December from Tesco in Milford Haven where I was performing in the panto.
“I took it to the Spar shop in Tregaron and the chap there said I needed to call the number on the back of the final ticket because it was a winner."
Dion had managed to match all five numbers thanks to his family’s birthdays and a Lucky Star in the EuroMillions draw which had taken place on Tuesday, December 20.
The ticket had been officially announced as unclaimed by The National Lottery in January.
He then went home to tell his wife Ifana before the pair called The National Lottery to make the claim.
Dio added: “Ifana had a friend round, so she stayed with us while we made the call.
"When the person at the Lottery said it was a winner, we all went - along with a neighbour - to get some lunch together, which of course included some glasses of fizz."
Dion had been starring as the pantomime dame in the Christmas production at The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, when he bought the ticket.
Now he, Ifana and their 15-year-old son are planning on a trip to Italy later this year.
After that sci-fi fan Dion also hopes to take his son to the Comic-Con convention in San Diego, USA.
His new role is in The Bet, which revolves around a man who lost a potentially life-changing fortune by failing to put money on Norton’s Coin, the Welsh horse which proved an unlikely winner at the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup with odds of 100-1.
A spokesperson for Camelot UK Lotteries Limited said: "Thanks to National Lottery players, £30M is generated each week for National Lottery-funded projects.
“This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nations' athletes win medals at last summer’s Commonwealth Games.
"To date, £47billion has been raised for National Lottery Good Causes, with more than 670,000 individual grants awarded.
“Players can buy and check their tickets online by downloading the National Lottery app or at
national-lottery.co.uk."
