£24.43m UK Lotto winner thought he’d won £240,000

£24.43M UK LOTTO WINNER THOUGHT HE’D WON £240,000

A taxi driver from Gloucester in England, has already decided to retire after winning a £24.43m jackpot in the December 27 UK Lotto draw. Arno Riselli won the jackpot despite his ticket not matching the six main numbers.The numbers drawn in the December 27 UK Lotto draw were 18-36-48-57-58-59 but no ticket could match those. The jackpot had to be won and Riselli’s ticket matched five of those numbers and the bonus ball 50 to scoop the top prize.The father-of-five buys three lines for each UK Lotto draw but he kept the winning ticket in the glove box of his car before checking it at a local shop. He quickly ran next door to his sister Lisa’s hair salon but at that stage thought he’d only won £240,000.Last year a lottery player in Ireland thought he’d won a €5,000 prize but it was actually a €1,005,000 EuroMillions windfall. John Bowman from Scotland made a similar mistake initially thinking his £10m UK Lotto win was just £10,000.It was only when he phoned his brother that he found out just how much he’d won. His brother asked him for his numbers and started crying when telling Arno he was the UK Lotto jackpot winner despite not matching the six main numbers.The lucky UK Lotto winner kept his winning ticket in a glass jar and regularly checked it was still there. In Michigan, USA, Fred Morgan hid his $1m Mega Millions winning ticket in a bag of flour.Overall, Mr Riselli has won £24,501,283 and the 50-year-old has already decided to retire and plans to host a big party for his former work colleagues. He’s worked at the Grosvenor taxi rank for 12 years and admits he will "miss all my friends at work as we really have a laugh together, but I've decided I'm going to retire - just because now I can."Steven Peloquin from Pittsburgh, USA, retired early after his $153m Mega Millions jackpot win. However, Scottish £14.67m UK Lotto jackpot winner John Doherty carried on working after his big win.Arno also plans to buy a new house and wants a four-bedroom home with a swimming pool, but won’t be moving to a new area. Also planned is looking after his family and a trip to Las Vegas. However, after getting his big win, he won’t play the UK Lotto draw again, saying its’s someone else’s turn now.Don't miss any chance to become a lottery winner and purchase your tickets online at Lottery24.com.