A mother who says her winning lottery ticket was accidentally binned by a shopkeeper will be allowed to claim her £12million jackpot following an agonising wait.
Kath Main, 46, from Pontypridd in South Wales, appealed after the owner of the Londis in Abercynon threw out her ticket when his scanner failed to register her numbers as a win, according to The Sun.
National Lottery operator Allwyn launched a 30-day investigation and has now concluded that Ms Main will be able to claim her win - so long as nobody else comes forward by 3 December.
Ms Main, the secretary of a rugby club, previously said that she “feels sick all the time” waiting for the potential payout, and that she hopes to use some of the money on a Lions rugby tour of New Zealand.
She said previously she was shocked to read in the news that somebody in her area had won the 6 June jackpot with her lucky numbers but not yet claimed the prize.
Ms Main’s numbers - 8, 10, 26, 30, 35, and 42 - are a combination of her birthday, her husband’s birthday, her and husband’s ages when they started playing 20 years ago, and two random numbers.
Her mother, Fiona, had already taken the ticket to the Londis, where she was told they had not won.
She said the machine “did not beep” and the shop owner said nothing had come up to indicate a win on the screen.
By the time Ms Main realised she had won, the winning ticket had already been disposed of. She would later appeal to Allwyn with proof of purchase and local doorbell footage of their movements.
A spokesperson for Allwyn, the operator of the National Lottery, told The Independent on Tuesday: “We are the only major lottery which is able to look to pay a winner even if they have lost their ticket.
“The investigation we conduct is designed to ensure any claim is from the rightful ticketholder. We are then able, at our discretion, to pay that player once the claim period has expired 180 days after the draw.
“We are proud to pay out millions of prizes as well as raising over £33M for Good Causes each week."
The Sun has reported that Ms Main grew up working at her parents’ cafe, Fives, which serves as a community hub in the town and donates its tips to local good causes.
Her father, Phillip Williams, told newspaper previously: “To be honest [a lottery win] won’t change things. I will still come to work. I don’t want for anything. Maybe a nice holiday.”
Her mother, Fiona, had said that even if they could not claim the win, it would “give charities a nice donation as it will go back to good causes.”
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