A COUPLE who won £82,000 in the lottery after an incredible discovery have been left hanging after a devastating twist.
The duo were cleaning up their home in Prince George, Canada, when they stumbled upon their winning ticket.
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However, the lottery ticket was a gift from Christmas and had been sitting among the mess for about two months.
Nevertheless, the British Columbia couple scratched at the ticket to try their luck.
Dan Lewis, the husband, said: “This weekend my wife was doing a little bit of cleaning up in our bedroom and found a box full of odds and ends that were left over from Christmas.
“There were hand warmers and that sort of thing and in that box there was also a scratch ticket.”
Dan’s wife, Cerise, encouraged him to play the two-person Clue scratch game.
Dan said: “We went through the game and there is icons that tell you the weapon, the room and the suspect just like the board game.
“We get to the end of the game and it reveals who the murder was and she says ‘I got all three of those symbols’ and I was like ‘no way’.”
The man checked the ticket and then the rules on the back that clarified if they had a chance of winning the £82,000 prize.
To his amazement, they had just scratched their way to riches.
However, the couple’s joy was short lived.
Cerise checked the ticket on the British Columbia Lottery Corporation app only to discover it had expired.
Dan said: “We turned the ticket over and looked at the expiry date and it was five days before we had scratched the ticket.”
The couple contacted BCLC to see if there was a grace period where they might still be able to cash in the ticket.
The organisation explained the situation and confirmed “if the ticket was expired, it was expired.”
The devastated couple admitted they were a bit perplexed how a ticket they received at Christmas would expire just two months later.
Dan said: “When we first saw that we won $100,000 we thought wow this is going to take care of all of our problems.
“We will be out of debt, this and that, and then of course a couple minutes later we were devastated to find out that we won absolutely nothing.”
Dan advised other players to check their tickets as soon as they get them to avoid his mishap.
Other lottery players have had better luck in the past.
One woman from the US won £82,932 after having previously dreamed it would happen.
