A NATIONAL lottery participant felt “like some kind of criminal” because she won so often.
Amelia Barnham, 69, spends £60 a week on lotto tickets and has won several small prizes totaling £23,600.
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Amelia Barnham, 69, spends £60 a week on lotto tickets and has won several small prizes totaling £23,600 – but was investigated after her latest £800 win Credit: Dan Charity
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Amelia, who lives in west London with her husband Tony, sent the company pictures of the map and was given a claim number. She was then told that she would be visited by a Merit investigator: Dan Charity
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Finance worker Amelia, a grandmother and mother of three, still hasn’t claimed her winnings after hitting three out of five numbers
But after her latest win, £800 on a £1 HotPicks ticket, new operator Allwyn placed her under investigation.
They sent a former detective to her house and demanded she prove her identity – and said they were investigating her because she had won so often in the past.
Finance worker Amelia, a grandmother and mother of three, has still not claimed her winnings after three out of five numbers were drawn in the February 3 draw.
She said: “This has really stressed me out and I’m angry.
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“I was treated like some kind of criminal – and it was terrifying to have someone come to my house.
“The numbers came from a national draw — so did they think I was printing slips or something?
“I’ve never had this problem before and I’m worried it will put people off buying tickets.
“The investigator was a former detective who worked in this area for 30 years.
“He showed me his badge, went in and took a photo of my passport and asked for my bank statements.
“That’s funny.
“He was embarrassed and kept saying he was sorry.
“He also said, ‘I’m just a messenger.’
“How can I treat people like this?”
Amelia’s problems started two days after the draw when she went to the post office to try to collect her winnings.
Staff told her to go back to Tesco where she bought the ticket.
She was able to validate her ticket but was told she had to contact Allwyn, who replaced Camelot as Lotto operator on February 1.
Amelia, who lives in Hammersmith, west London, with her husband Tony, 69, sent the company pictures of the front and back of the card and was given a claim number.
She was then told that an investigator would visit her home on February 28.
He showed his ID, then took a photo of her ticket, bank card, bank statements, passport and also took a picture of Amelia.
She said: “I asked why I was being investigated.
“That made me feel very uneasy and upset.
“He said it’s because of the amount of wins I’ve had and hopefully I’ll hear back in a week — but I’m still waiting.
“If this happened to someone very old, they would not like someone coming to their house.
“It could be quite scary.
“It’s been more than a month since I won.
“I think it’s disgusting and disgraceful the way they treated me and the way I’m sure they treated many others.
“I’ll never buy tickets again — not if I’m going to have this kind of trouble getting the winnings I’m owed.
“I would warn other players not to buy tickets as I would hate to think that others have to go through the same situation as it is quite upsetting.”
A spokesman for Allwyn said: “This is a new claim process following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.
“Security checks are a key part of the ticket validation process to ensure we maintain the integrity of the National Lottery.
“All our players are very important to us and we strive to give them as positive an experience as possible, so we are sorry to hear Ms Barnham’s concerns and will certainly follow up as we want to address those with her.”
The Sun said this week that prizes between £500 and £50,000 can no longer be claimed at post offices and winners must now confirm their numbers
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