A fortunate lottery winner who won £580 in the EuroMillions claims he has been waiting weeks for his riches and is unable to afford to leave his home.
After winning £582.20 in the lottery in July, 71-year-old Pete Daly was informed he would receive his money in ten days, but 33 days later there is still no sign of his money and now Mr Daly, from Wirral, Merseyside, can no longer afford to leave his house.
Mr Daly says he’s also having to rely on his local food bank to combat his hunger.
Having found out he won, Mr Daly said he paid for his car insurance renewal out of his monthly budget, leaving him with no money in the bank until the winnings from the lottery came in.
The delay in the payout has left Mr Daly ‘desperate’ for money as he looks to carry out simple tasks such as getting a haircut, filling his car with petrol and buying new shoes.
He told the Liverpool Echo, ‘I won £582.20 and every time I ring them up, I get a different story. I have been paying for the lottery for 10 years; that is £10 a week.
‘I finally make £500 and they won’t give me it.
‘I need this money, I’m struggling, money is the difference to being able to live, it sorts me to be able to live, not living well, but living.’
EuroMillions apologised for the delays and said it was ‘working on new ways to help further improve the claims process’.
The lottery operator Allwyn said it was forced to introduce a revised claims process for winning tickets following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay ‘mid-tier’ National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.
This has led to a small number of these payout claims being delayed, the operator said.
With this revised retail claim process, Allwyn asks players to fill out an online form to start their claim or call their Customer Care Team.
Retail prizes up to £500 can still be awarded in-store, while online winners’ winnings remain unaltered and proceed in the same way as before.
In a statement, the company said, ‘We’re very sorry to hear the concerns raised and colleagues have now called Mr Daly with an update. We successfully process hundreds—sometimes thousands—of prize claims every week.
‘This is following the introduction of a revised claims process that we had to bring in earlier this year following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.
‘Unfortunately, a small number of these claims are delayed for various reasons. However, we’re continuing to work on new ways to help further improve the claims process and would like to reassure our winners that they will definitely receive their prize.’
The man claims he must utilise food banks to get food, but he also claims he cannot afford to leave the house.
Some winners are now having to wait months for their payout, which means the operators are keeping funds back, which ultimately gives them additional interest. More than a bit dodgy.
This man’s winnings should have been paid to him and he should not have to wait that long for it, it’s not that difficult to achieve. It’s just money mismanagement here and nothing else.
However, perhaps this man should have waited for his payout before paying out for his car insurance in full. That would have made more sense, but he was told that he would only have to wait ten days for his money.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 