Woman being blocked from cashing in £64 million winning lottery ticket after 'using app'

Winning the lottery is the kind of thing people dream of, going to the shop and claiming your prize – no matter how small.

Being that person who has come forward for the jackpot everyone’s been talking about all week, getting presented with that whopper cheque and buying the things you thought you’d never own.

But that’s all well and good to imagine under the assumption that if you won the lottery, you’d actually be given your prize.

Whereas in more of a nightmare scenario, one woman has been blocked from cashing in her mega win after ‘using app’ to buy her ticket with things getting a little political.

She hit the absolute jackpot in a Texas draw on 17 February, bagging the huge $83.5 million (£64.5 million) prize.

The woman's attorney says she 'played by all the rules'. (Getty Stock)

This all seems to be because of controversy over using third-party couriers in buying lottery tickets.

The woman, who has remained anonymous, used Jackpocket (a subsidiary of sports betting company DraftKings) which enables users to buy lottery tickets on their phone.

Her attorney, Randy Howry, told PEOPLE that she had been using the app for several years and has always been paid for her winnings.

“She just preferred to play this way and felt more safe and didn't have to leave her house,” he said of the widow.

DrafKings also owns the Winners Corner store in North Austin and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick visited the day after the draw.

He posted a video to X where a person claiming to be the manager says the winning ticket was bought via a courier.

"The bottom line is, if people are going to have confidence in the lottery, we have to be sure that no one has an advantage," Patrick said.

"This is not the way the lottery was designed to operate."

And on 24 February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he’d called on state law enforcement officials to look into the drawing as well as wins from a previous one in April 2023.

The woman bought her lottery ticket through an app. (Getty Stock)

“Texans must be able to trust in our state’s lottery system and know that the lottery is conducted with integrity and lawfully,” Abbott said.

Howry said that before the woman met with state lottery officials recently to claim her prize, a preliminary check was conducted and she had to do a telephone interview with a lottery investigator.

But on the day she was due for her meeting, officials apparently told her she couldn’t received her winnings until an investigation is completed with Howry saying no timeline has been given.

“She played by all the rules,” the attorney said. “She did everything the right way…She's just a regular citizen who decided to play the lottery…If you allow a person to play by your rules and they win and you refuse to pay 'em, then why would anyone play the Texas lottery going forward?”

And the woman told Austin American-Statesmen: “I literally spent $20. I didn't spend $26 million to run every single possible combination of numbers. If [the Lottery Commission] didn't do an investigation into the [April 2023 jackpot winner], that's on you.

“That's not my fault."

LADbible has contacted DraftKings and the Texas Lottery Commission for comment.