Anguish behind the jubilation ... £24.5m lotto cabbie’s partner died of heart attack 4 years ago
A TAXI driver plans to swap his cab for a Ferrari and take his family on a holiday to Las Vegas after landing £25million on the lottery.
Amo Riselli won the huge jackpot despite only matching five of the six main lottery numbers, and initially thought he had only won £240,000 after misreading his ticket.
However, the win is tinged with sadness as Mr Riselli’s partner Donna, who died of a heart attack four years ago, will not be around to share in the family’s new-found wealth.
Discussing his late partner and his father, who died 12 years ago, he said: ‘ I’m sure they are both looking down upon us now.’
The taxi driver has promised to share his millions with his large family, which includes his mother Maria, 79, his five daughters, nine grandchildren, and four brothers and sisters. Mr Riselli had carried his winning ticket around in the glovebox of his taxi for two days before going to the Post Office to see if he had won anything.
When the shop told him to contact Camelot, the 50-year-old initially thought he had won about £240,000. It wasn’t until his brother Marco pointed to an extra comma that he realised he had scooped £24,501,283 for matching five main numbers and a bonus ball.
After finding out he had won, Mr Riselli still carried out several prebooked taxi journeys which were too late to be re-arranged.
But he now plans to buy a Ferrari and swap his £110,000 terraced house for a large four-bedroom property with a swimming pool. He wants to stay in the Gloucester area, where he has lived all his life.
Yesterday Mr Riselli said: ‘I will miss all my friends at work as we really have a laugh together, but I’ve decided I’m going to retire – just because now I can.’
He said he was planning to throw a party for his old colleagues to say a proper goodbye.
Mr Riselli is father to daughters Tammy Lock, 31, Letitia Sciberras, 25, Bethany Sciberras, 21, Nicole Lock, 26, and Lucia Lock, 28.
He added: ‘I am still the same normal person I always was, just with a bit more loose change in my pocket.’ After confirming his winning ticket, Mr Riselli initially ran next door to his sister Lisa’s hair salon and shouted that he had pocketed £240,000. But he said: ‘I [then] called my brother Marco. I was shaking like a leaf and I told him I’d won £240k.
‘He said he didn’t understand how that could be as he’d already checked his own ticket and didn’t remember that winning amount. He asked what numbers I’d got and when I told him he cried, “You’ve won the whole jackpot of £24million.” It’s an amazing feeling and I’m over the moon.’
Mr Riselli is friends with former England rugby captain Phil Vickery, who said: ‘ Me and Amo go back years, he was my trusted taxi driver. He would take me to London for games and pick me up late at night, honestly you could not hope to meet a nicer, more trustworthy guy.’
No one had matched all six numbers for the draw on December 27, but the top prize had to be won on the night so the jackpot had rolled down to anyone who had matched five numbers and the bonus ball.
The main numbers were 18, 36, 48, 57, 58, 59 and the bonus ball was 50. Mr Riselli matched everything except 18.
A TRANSGENDER taxi driver is planning her dream wedding after scooping £ 4million on a scratchcard. Melissa Ede, 57, became a millionaire on Saturday, days after her partner asked her to marry her with a Christmas proposal. Miss Ede said she had now ditched her modest plans for a register office event in favour of a more spectacular celebration.