Jammy: cabbie whose mother kept £25m lotto ticket in a jar
IT IS a particularly Italian Catholic tradition to keep the relics of a saint on display in a prominent place where the faithful can gaze on them in wonder and quiet contemplation.
So it may have seemed natural for Maria Riselli to store her son’s lottery ticket in a glass jar in a cupboard, where she could see it was still safe each time she walked past it.
Her precaution – and perhaps her faith – paid off when Camelot confirmed that Amo Riselli’s lucky ticket had won him nearly £25 million on Lotto. Mr Riselli, 50, a cab driver from Gloucester, trusted to his mother the important task of looking after the ticket while he waited for Camelot’s offices to reopen after the Christmas break to confirm he had won. Mrs Riselli, 80 next month, dutifully placed it in the empty jar and checked on it each time she went past.
Mr Riselli was due a change in fortune. In 2013, he suffered a heart attack and later that year, Donna Sciberras, his partner and mother of two of his five children, died after herself suffering a heart attack at their home at Christmas. Mr Riselli is now planning to use some of the money to buy a Ferarri and a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool, but says he has no plans to move away from the Gloucester area, where he has lived all his life.