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The man who won the lottery twice by mistake
Last updated at 13:07pm on 01.08.07
One couple from Gloucester won the Lotto twice
For the 57-year-old's forgetfulness has landed him an amazing double lottery win.
He and his wife Dawn were elated when their six regular numbers came up on the midweek draw.
They were quick to claim their £479,142 share of the £2,395,710 jackpot split between five winners.
But, incredibly, a week later Mr Ladner remembered he had bought another ticket with the same numbers for the same draw.
That gave him two of the five shares of the jackpot on July 11, doubling his winnings to £958,284.
A spokesman for lottery operator Camelot said it was the first time a player had won twice in the same draw.
The Ladners, from Redruth in Cornwall, plan to use the winnings to renovate their house and take a luxury holiday.
Their friends at Bickford Smith Bowls Club, where Mrs Ladner, 60, is secretary, have been helping celebrate the win.
"We are very pleased about the good news,' said a spokesman for the Camborne club.
"They are a delightful couple who put a lot into the club and have already been to see us to buy a round of drinks.
"It couldn't have happened to nicer people. They haven't told us what they want to do yet but obviously they are over the moon.
"Hopefully they will still stick with the bowls because they are good players and we need them."
The Ladners, who married 15 years ago, were not at their £250,000 threebedroom detached home.
But a family friend who answered the door said: "They are overwhelmed. It hasn't sunk in yet."
Mr Ladner's forgetfulness cost the other three winners almost £120,000 each. Had he not bought the extra ticket, they would have split the jackpot four ways instead of five and won £598,927 a person.
The Camelot spokesman said Mr Ladner's good fortune was purely down to poor memory.
"He bought one winning ticket but forgot about it," the spokesman said.
"Then he went off to buy another and ended up with two shares. He collected his first winnings when the draw was made.
"It wasn't until quite recently that he found the second ticket and realised he was a double winner.
"People can buy as many tickets, play as many numbers and win as many shares of the jackpot as they want.
"He is the first person to have won twice in the same draw. It must have been a huge and happy surprise."
The Ladners are big sports fans and spent part of their honeymoon in a hotel at Twickenham rugby stadium and their son Paul plays for Redruth Cricket Club.
Earlier this year, Bryan Crook and Janice Giles beat enormous-odds in a single draw to win the three-number £10 prize twice and then match six numbers to claim a £2.5million jackpot.
Their luck in January even extended to their scooping another £1,331 for five numbers on a separate ticket.
They had already won £20 on the midweek draw and £40 on a scratchcard.
Mr Crook, a 65-year- old retired council worker, said at the time: "'The news has still not sunk in but what a way to start the New Year."
His 69-year-old partner said: "It's frightening, it's all happened so fast. We'll look after all the children first, and then we'll start enjoying ourselves."
She said they would spend some of the money on a new home and some on a seaside caravan in Somerset.
The pair, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, use the same lottery numbers every week.
AND THE FIRST BINGO MILLIONAIRE
Pauline Clarke: She beat 15,000 other players with a stake of just 60p
Pauline Clarke landed the jackpot by beating 15,000 other contestants in an online final. She had staked just 60 pence.
"I've been playing bingo for years and I had always thought I would win big," the 62-year-old widow said yesterday.
"A clairvoyant told me a couple of years ago I would never be stuck for cash.
"But when I needed to retire from work I wondered what she meant. Now I know. I just wish my husband was around to see it."
Mrs Clarke, who has been living off a £140-a-week pension, won her massive prize on a Gala Internetbingo game called KerChingo.
A qualifying round saw her win £50 for a full house. But Sunday's live final went to a tiebreak after Mrs Clarke and a rival called 'house' at the same time.
She won the play-off by being the first to complete a single line.
"It was so unreal," said Mrs Clarke, a former factory supervisor who lives with her younger son Jason, 34, in Brislington, Bristol.
"All I'm thinking about is my children and that they're going to be all right."
Mrs Clarke said she regularly played bingo with her husband Harold until his death from a heart attack 13 years ago.
Reader views (1)
"A spokesman for lottery operator Camelot said it was the first time a player had won twice in the same draw".
Wrong. A work colleague of mine did the same thing a few years ago. He was in a syndicate and accidentally bought two tickets with the same numbers. His syndicate got two shares of the jackpot - I can't remember exactly how much but I think it was about £2 million.
- Ian, Chatham, Kent
