What started as a life-changing moment in May 2023 quickly turned into a tough lesson for Dean Smethurst.
On May 8, 2023, Dean stopped by his local Tesco in Farnworth, Lancashire, to scan his lottery ticket from the previous Saturday’s draw. Within seconds, the checkout assistant told him he’d won — but there was a catch. The machine couldn’t process the payout and instructed him to contact Camelot directly.
That’s when things got exciting.
Dean, a supermarket manager who had been playing the lottery for six years, went home and jumped online. After reading the terms and conditions on Camelot’s website, he saw that this kind of message usually meant a win of at least £50,000 — too big to pay out in-store.
And just like that, his imagination took off.
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🏠 First plan? Fix up his home, which was already mid-renovation.
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✈️ Next idea? A luxury family vacation to Barbados.
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🥂 Celebration mode? Activated. He even cracked open a bottle of bubbly.
There was just one small problem — he never actually checked his numbers against the draw results.
Dean admitted he was so thrilled he couldn’t even sleep. He truly believed this was his moment. “I thought, this is it. My numbers have finally come up,” he later said. He trusted the system completely and didn’t think a company as large as Camelot could make a mistake.
But the next morning, when the phone lines reopened at 8 a.m., reality hit hard.
Instead of a £50,000+ jackpot, Dean had won… three Lucky Dip entries for a future draw. Value? Just £2 each.
The confusion happened because Dean had bought tickets for both the Saturday and Wednesday draws. When he scanned his ticket, the Wednesday draw was actually taking place — what Camelot calls a “draw break.” During that time, sales are paused, and certain automated messages can be triggered.
According to a Camelot spokesperson, the validation slip Dean received is a generic message used in several situations — not just for big-money prizes. Because his ticket was still active in a live draw, the machine couldn’t process anything and printed the standard notice instead.
So while Dean went from dreaming about five figures to holding onto £6 worth of future entries, he took it in stride — even if he admitted he was “absolutely gutted.”
It was an emotional rollercoaster:
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From applause at the store
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To planning major home upgrades
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To imagining tropical beaches
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And finally… back to reality
A reminder for every lottery player out there: always double-check your numbers before popping the champagne.
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