Two criminals thought to have bought a winning scratchcard with a stolen debit card showed off their ticket on social media before lottery chiefs decided not to award them the money.
Mark Goodram, 36, and Jon-Ross Watson, 31, thought they had won £4million when they scratched off the card in south London earlier this month.
They sent a video round to friends showing them waving the ticket in the air and shouting: ‘Four mil! Buzzing!.. I’ve won four million. Stop hating’.
But their smiles were wiped from their faces when Camelot found neither of the pair, who both have criminal convictions, had a back account, The Sun reported.
Mark Goodram shows off the £4million he thought he and friend Jon-Ross Watson had won on a lottery scratchcard. But lottery bosses have withheld the award amid fears the card used to buy the scratchcard may have been stolen
Despite the pair having insisting the card belonged to a friend and they had no knowledge that it might be stolen, the lottery organiser has so far refused to pay the winnings.
The pair had planned to buy expensive homes and enjoy Caribbean cruises before lotto chiefs became suspicious.
Watson, from Bolton, is reported in local media to have several convictions for offences including bank fraud.
He had said he was ‘going to buy luxury properties and look after myself’ after claiming the scratchcard win.
Goodram, also from the Greater Manchester town, was reportedly jailed for burglary last year.
He had said: ‘I’m off on a Caribbean cruise, then to Las Vegas. But I need a passport first.’
Jon-Ross Watson, 31, pictured left, and Mark Goodram, 36, pictured right, claimed victory on the lottery but Camelot has reportedly grown suspicious and refused to pay out
Watson, pictured at King’s Cross St Pancras Underground station in London, is reported in local media to have several convictions for offences including bank fraud
Both have appeared on lists of ‘Bolton’s Most Wanted’ for alleged crimes in the area in recent years.
The two men have reportedly denied using a stolen card to buy the ticket for the £4Million Red scratchcard game.
Camelot say they will not pay out to holders of stolen tickets but their website does not state the procedure for suspected stolen bank cards.
Players can buy tickets in a shop with a contactless bank card and would not necessarily have been required to show any ID.
Last year an unemployed father-of-four was refused a £200,000 lottery jackpot after being accused of having a faked ‘winning’ scratchcard.
Camelot refused to pay up to Eric Walker, 56, saying that one of the co-ordinates on the card was ‘altered’.
Watson, pictured, and his friend Goodram reportedly could not explain where the debit card had come from, claiming it was a friend called John but failing to provide any details
Mr Walker insisted he won ‘fair and square’ and said: ‘In my eyes I’ve won £200,000 and I’m being cheated out of the money’.
The lottery organisers said an F had been altered to appear as an E and was therefore not a winning ticket.
In 2016 Camelot was fined £3million by the gambling watchdog after paying out a £2.5million jackpot claim to someone with a ‘deliberately damaged ticket’.
The penalty – to be donated to good causes – was handed down by the Gambling Commission over a 2009 incident that went undiscovered for six years.
Camelot had previously been fined £300,000 after publishing inaccurate Lotto Millionaire Raffle results on the National Lottery website for an hour, allowing them to be viewed by more than 100,000 people.