Gwent Laundry Assistant in a Spin with Lotto Win
By admin
Issued on behalf of The National Lottery
A 47-year-old woman from Abertillery in Gwent is celebrating cleaning up a £1,146,742 jackpot in last Saturday’s (28 April 2007) Lotto draw. Joanne Gilbert, who has worked as a laundry assistant at Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital in Cwmbran for 23 years, is now planning a magical trip to Disneyland for her and her family.
Joanne was on holiday in her caravan in Weston-Super-Mare with her grandson, Rhys (5), when she realised she had become a millionairess, scooping all six numbers in the Saturday night Lotto draw.
Rhys had just been put to bed, when Joanne, who is single and has one son Marcus (31), decided to flick on the small television in the caravan.
Joanne said: “The Lotto draw was happening on the TV, so I decided to get a pen and paper to check the numbers. All of a sudden I realised I’d written down all six of my regular numbers.
“I know them off by heart, as I’ve been playing with those numbers since the lottery started – I chose them from a mixture of family birthdays. I play without fail every single week, even if it’s the last pound coin in my purse.
“I went to see my friends Kay and Tony who stay in the caravan pitch next to mine, and we all just stood there looking at the ticket in disbelief. The win still hasn’t sunk in, and I’ll need to think very carefully about what I want to do with the money, but one thing that has always been at the top of my list is a trip to Disneyland in America – I’m a big kid really. My mum and dad are so pleased and excited for me, the whole thing is just unbelievable.”
Joanne bought her ticket at Woolworths on Abertillery High Street. The winning numbers in Saturday night’s draw were 11, 17, 24, 28, 41, 47 and the bonus number was 48.
Tonight (Wednesday’s) jackpot is an estimated £2.5 million, while this Friday’s (4 May) estimated EuroMillions rollover jackpot is £26million. Every Lotto play slip now comes with its own Dream Number – it is up to players to mark ‘yes’ to give their Dream Number its chance of winning up to £500,000, or choose a Lucky Dip®.
