A woman from the UK alleges that her £12 million (approximately US$16 million) lottery ticket was thrown away due to a mistake made by a store terminal, which incorrectly indicated there was no winning prize.
The 46-year-old, Kath Main, revealed that she has been playing the same six numbers for around two decades, and on Saturday, June 6, 2026, those numbers finally hit in the National Lottery draw.
Main called her mother, Fiona, who purchases their lottery tickets every week, only to learn that the ticket had already been checked at a Londis store in Abercynon, South Wales, and was thought to be a losing one.
“I called my mom and asked, ‘Did you buy the lottery ticket?’ and she confirmed, ‘Yes.’
“Then I exclaimed, ‘We’ve won the lottery!’ to which she replied, ‘I checked, and there were no winners.’ I insisted, ‘No, we did win; it’s £12 million.’ She was shocked and said, ‘It can’t be; the ticket’s in the bin.’”
Dumpster Discovery
According to Fiona, the terminal failed to beep when the ticket was scanned, and no winning information was displayed on the screen.
The store clerk asked Fiona if she wanted to keep the tickets; believing they were all losers, she instructed the clerk to discard them.
Realizing their error, the mother and daughter called the store, only to discover that the trash had already been emptied.
The UK National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is currently looking into the incident.
Human Oversight
Typically, a physical ticket is required to claim a jackpot, serving as legal proof of ownership. While Allwyn has protocols in place for lost or destroyed tickets, claimants must demonstrate they genuinely purchased the winning ticket.
Sadly for Main, the store’s security footage was unavailable that day due to ongoing renovations. However, Allwyn might still trace the transaction through logs, as lottery terminals keep a record of every ticket sold.
Allwyn shared with The Sun that a machine error is “highly unlikely” and that human error is more probable. Main and her mother now await the outcome of a 30-day investigation to confirm if they indeed possessed the jackpot-winning ticket.
“I constantly feel nauseous; it’s the uncertainty that’s unbearable. I feel like the unluckiest person ever to win the lottery because I don’t have the money,” Main expressed.