Notts grandma is quids in with winning scratchcard

Dog owner and great-grandmother Pauline Dunne took her beloved pooch out for an early morning walk last Thursday (11 February) and returned home £100k richer after scooping the top prize on the Cash Drop Scratchcard from National Lottery GameStore.

The retired pub landlady from Underwood was out with her dog Alfie and decided to buy a newspaper and a scratchcard from her local newsagents. At home, with a cup of tea in one hand and a coin in the other she revealed the prize symbols, realised she had won big and vowed to treat her family and pamper her pet with the winnings.

Pauline, 74), said: “I’ve won the odd few pounds here and there on scratchcards including £20 when I was on holiday in Mablethorpe last year.

“When I sat down to scratch the card, I looked across the different rows and thought ‘crikey I’ve won’.

“It was still early in the morning and my partner Stewart was in bed so I woke him and asked him to check it.

“I was so excited I also called my daughter Angela who didn’t believe me and thought I was telling fibs. She came round to take a look too and soon everybody in the family knew. I have to admit that I was shaking by this point. I didn’t know if I was coming or going and Alfie was wondering what all the excitement was about!”

Hiding the scratchcard under the mattress until the win was validated, the mum-of-three, with seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren decided to celebrate by taking the family for a glass of bubbly at her local, The Selston Working Mens Club, known fondly as Jokers.

She said: “I can look after my family and that’s what this brilliant win means. I’m not bothered about the money for me – I may organise a holiday but it’s all about the kids. I can help them with their families.”

And what of Alfie, the two-year old pooch whose walk led to the win? Pauline adds: “He is already spoilt. He had a new bed for Christmas so I’d better get him something extra special now.”

Pauline’s winning scratchcard was bought from the Premier store on Main Road, Underwood. The Cash Drop Scratchcard offers a 1 in 4.25 overall chance of winning a prize. The card costs £2 and prizes range from £2 up to the top prize of The National Lottery said it “changes the lives of winners like Pauline as well as communities across the UK”. Players raise, on average, over £34m for National Lottery-funded projects every week. In the Ashfield constituency area alone there have been 494 individual National Lottery grants made to date, funding projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors.

For more information on National Lottery funding please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk