A former football hooligan who scooped £1,000,000 on the EuroMillions has revealed he nearly missed out on his windfall due to a technicality.
Daniel Wright, whose book Northern Monkeys is a fictionalised account of his time as part of Bradford City's notorious firm "The Ointment," was on holiday when he discovered his life-changing win.
Speaking to podcaster James English, Daniel recalled the moment he came across the incredible message he'd won. He explained: "I just thought I'd check my emails, and I saw on that said 'You've won on EuroMillions.' I thought it would be £2.50 or something."
However, when Daniel opened the official lottery app, a prominent notification confirmed his substantial prize. He said: "I wasn't really paying attention. I thought I'd won £1,000, then I thought 'That's not £1,000. I must have counted it 10 times, then I shouted 'Woo!' Like Rick Flair."
Yet there was a potential complication with Daniel's jackpot.
"I won the UK match matchmaker," he explains. "But I was in Cape Verde at the time. If I'd bought that ticket in Cape Verde, I wouldn't have got paid."
Daniel's ticket had been purchased through a regular weekly direct debit. However, he was abroad when the draw took place.
When he contacted lottery officials to claim his winnings, they questioned him about his location when purchasing the ticket: "They said to me, 'Where did you put the ticket on?' And I said 'Well, it's a standing order, so it just comes out my bank every month'.
"They said, "Alright, that's alright – but if you'd have bought the ticket while you were abroad, we won't pay you. Imagine that. Imagine if that happened to you.
"So, if you ever win the lottery and you're on holiday, don't ring them until you get back."
Daniel still had 10 days remaining in Cape Verde, meaning he couldn't claim his winnings for a fortnight.
That was sufficient time for him to begin worrying whether the entire situation was an elaborate prank, considering it occurred just after April Fools' Day, and then to start experiencing concerns that someone might try to sell a story about his criminal past.
He continued: "I think The Lottery knew that I've been in jail, but it's not it's not a rule that you can't be in in jail and play the lottery."
Once he finally collected his prize money, he wasn't entirely certain what to do with it.
"It's strange feeling because you don't know what to do really," he recalled. "You can do what you want so I went traveling for a bit. I got one of those train tickets that goes around Europe, and you can get on and off wherever you want for a month. But after a bit, I got bored of that.
"Even though it's great going looking at all these different cities, but like there's only so many cathedrals and museums you can see before you think 'F***,I want to do something else'
"So I moved away. I put some money into a couple of businesses here and there and then I just concentrated on writing books. I always wanted to write a novel and I thought 'I've got the perfect chance now,' just so I did that."
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