Woman who won £2 million house in lottery got £5k instead due to 'confusing loophole'
A woman who won a £2 million house in a lottery got £5k instead due to a 'confusing loophole'.
Loretta, a schoolteacher from Radford, won a Win My Home competition has since claimed she was only rewarded a mere fraction of the lottery winnings.
Win My Home posted the congratulatory video of Loretta on their website with the caption: "Congratulations to our Winner, Lorreta from Nottingham!
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"Newly married of 2.5 months, she and her husband have been looking to buy their first home together!
"We’re so happy for you both and wish you all the best for your next chapter."
The clip, just under a minute long, shows a woman approach Loretta's home with a bouquet of flowers before announcing: "You're the winner of our Nottingham prize draw."
Since then, however, Loretta was left beyond 'heartbroken' after later being informed she would not in fact be getting the swish accommodation and instead would be receiving a few thousand quid.
She told Nottinghamshire Live: "It was heartbreaking because my property at the moment is a death-trap, that's why I entered it [the competition]."
Recalling the moment she was told about her win, Loretta explained: "Two people came and they said 'yes you've won' and I was like 'yes, where are my keys?'
"And they told me I hadn't won the house but I had won a grand prize of £5,000. I was like 'right, thanks' and they said 'unfortunately because we didn't raise enough money I can't give you the house.'"
Instead of handing her the keys to the luxury estate, Loretta was apparently told Win My Home could transfer the significantly lower sum straight to her bank account.
However, Loretta and her husband revealed they were beyond desperate to move out of their home, saying: "All we're trying to do is get out of this property."
Hoping for a 'new start', the woman has since said she's been approached by people congratulating her win after seeing the announcement.
"People have got in touch with me saying congratulations, but I say 'don't congratulate me because I didn't win'. They say I'm lying," she continued. "I need everyone to stop saying congratulations. It's not that I'm not grateful for the £5,000.
"Even if they said we can't give you the house but here's £50,000, it's something. But £5,000? £5,000 now can't even get you gas and electrics."
Email correspondence between Loretta and Win My Home see the latter stating the terms of conditions are 'very explicit', and that any winner would receive just a percentage of the net profit if enough money was not raised.
The messages read: "Unfortunately, after nearly £200,000 in marketing costs and the issue that we discussed about not being able to process Visa payments for a long time, there was no profit and in fact we made a loss.
"The amount that we have awarded actually came from our own personal pockets because, we wanted to award you something as a goodwill gesture and hoped that it would make a positive difference to your lives.
"The alternative was awarding nothing which we would obviously not have felt great about."
LADbible reached out to Win My Home for comment.
Rhiannon Ingle