The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Fisherman hauls in record £5.4m jackpot
A NORTH-EAST fisherman is celebrating a jackpot win of £5.4million from an online casino.
It’s the UK’s biggest payout from an internet betting site.
The married father-of-one, from Aberdeenshire, insisted last night that, despite the win, he would con- tinue fishing. He also plans to give some of the cash to charity.
The crewman, who has not been named, started by betting just 20p per spin in the BetVictor’s Hall of Gods casino.
In a statement issued by the gambling giant, the shy winner, who is in his 40s, said: “There’s no need to ask how I’m feeling: Yahoooo should answer that.
“When I won, the first person I told was my wife. She was as shocked as I was.
“I can only compare the feeling as equal, but different, from the day I saw my son born.”
He added: “I guess we all chase the dream and winning the biggest-ever UK online jackpot has been a dream come true for meandmy family as it will change our lives – we have no worries about the future now.” The winner, a cod fisherman, said he would take some time to decide what to dowith the cash but some of it would go to a good cause.
Headded tha the intended to keep fishing, saying he would miss the job too much otherwise.
The winner’s identity remained a mystery last night. People in the
north-east’s main fishing ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh said they had not heard who he was.
Publicans in Peterhead’s harbour area were still in the dark.
Town pub owner Raymond Matthew, of Bailies Bar, said the identity of the winner had yet to hit the local grapevine. “I would be surprised if someone could keep a secret like that for very long,” he said.
The situation wassimilar in the Broch. One man in a town-centre bookmakers said the winner’s identity would soon be known if he was local. People frequenting harbourside pubs –
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many of them fishermen – were surprised to hear of the windfall.
The massive win comes six months after another BetVictor member landed £4.5million on the site’s Mega Fortune slot.
Andrew Dymock of BetVictor said: “I couldn’t be happier for one of our most loyal of Scottish customers to pick up this fantastic jackpot and it was a pleasure to congratulatehimafter his win.
“This jackpot is the biggest single win BetVictor has ever paid out and we are delighted to say that we’ve paid out £10million to two luckyBetVictor players in the last six months.”