Why is £800 National Lottery Win Being Investigated?

Amelia Barnham from West London, England loves playing National Lottery games. The 69-year-old has had her fair share of wins too with £23,600 being won in small prizes. However, her latest £800 win has led to her being investigated by the new operators of the National Lottery.

The upset player says her treatment has made her feel “like some sort of criminal.” Amelia spends £60 a week on lottery tickets and on February 3 won an £800 HotPicks prize. Claiming her win did not go as expected.

No congratulations then

Rather than receiving congratulations, she was given a claim number and told an investigator would be paying her a visit. This was because of the number of wins she’d been having.

The mother of three and grandmother still hasn’t received her HotPicks prize and admits that she’s “fuming” and “stressed” over what has happened.

This year has seen Allwyn take over running the National Lottery.  Emilia wasn’t best pleased when they sent an ex-detective to her house and asked her to prove her identity. The finance worker said that the visit “was intimidating.”

The investigator took photographs of her passport and demanded that he be shown bank statements. According to Emila, it was all a bit embarrassing for the investigator. He told her that “I am only the messenger.”

The investigation into this latest win has left her totally puzzled and she’s vowing not to buy any more tickets. “The numbers came from the national draw — so did they think I was printing the tickets or something? Her fear is that this may lead to other people not buying National Lottery tickets.

New claims process

An Allwyn spokesperson says that there is now a new claims process in place. This has happened because the Post Office have announced they will not pay National Lottery prizes that are between £500.01 and £50,000.  

They added that: “Security checks form a key part of the process of validating a winning ticket to ensure we maintain the integrity of The National Lottery.

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