But what if that dream becomes a reality?
This is what happened to single mum Ruth Breen five years ago when she scooped ?1m with a EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle ticket.
“It still feels incredible,” say the 39-year-old from Wigan. “I thank my lucky stars every day and I am hugely grateful.
“It is the best feeling in the world knowing I am financially secure.”
Ruth bought her ticket online but waited hours to check her winning tickets after receiving an e-mail to alert her to news about her ticket.
“You get the same generic email whether you have won ?2.50 or ?3m,” she explained.“I had a few of those email's historically where I had won
a few quid and so when I got that email again, I wasn’t really over
excited about it.
“I thought ‘Oh great, I’ve won another couple of quid, fabulous.’”
However, when she finally opened that e-mail on her lunch break at Wigan Infirmary where she works as a midwife, Ruth’s life changed
forever.
“I checked my email's in the morning before work and then was in a bit of a hurry so waited until lunch time so I was going about my
business at work, minding my own, completely unaware I was a
millionaire. That amuses me still.At lunch time when I got the
opportunity to log onto my account and open this message, it was a
little bit surreal I suppose is the best way to describe it.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes. It said ‘Congratulations, you have won a million pounds and please ring this telephone number which is for
Camelot to confirm your prize and that you are in fact the worthy
winner’.
“So I rang them up and they confirmed that I was the very lucky EuroMillions Raffle winner from the draw the previous evening and it
still didn’t seem very real at that point. It was a bit of a
blur.”Within a couple of days, Ruth was sat talking to a winner’s
advisor from Camelot, who is the operator of the UK National Lottery ,
in her home and what follows is an extensive check to make sure
everything is legitimate, a winners reveal - if you choose to go public -
and a lot of financial support.
Ruth said: “They had to go through due diligence and checks and make sure that you are who you say you are and that you purchased the ticket
legally and legitimately which eventually all checked out fine.
“They did ask who I had already told about the win and about keeping it quiet until you had been visited my Camelot and they have verified
that it’s all legitimate.
