“Describe winning the Veterans’ Lottery in one word?... Amazing!”
Congratulations to John Johnston, our latest first prize winner in the Veterans’ Lottery!
The 63-year-old from Glenrothes scooped the £5,000 top award in the January draw, but the keen golfer had to sit down when he returned from the course and opened the letter telling him that he’d won.
“I told my partner, ‘You’ll never believe what’s happened’,” said John.
“I couldn’t believe it; I was shell shocked.”
“You don’t think it’ll ever happen to you – it’s just an amazing feeling!”
John, known to his friends as ‘Ian’, spent 24 years in the Black Watch regiment, serving all over the world from Northern Ireland to Canada, Hong Kong and Cyprus, and decided to play the Veterans’ Lottery because he knows all about the aftermath of service.
“I should have joined quicker to be honest,” he said.
“I used to be a funeral director and I’ve buried many other Black Watch soldiers, young lads killed in service, so it really brings it home you know,” explained John.
“The ex-military guys I play golf with, they’ve all said they’ll sign up to help too, I should have done it years ago!”
Already giving back to his local community, delivering prescriptions to local pensioners, John is certainly a worthy winner – he plans to use the money to pay off some bills and keep a bit back for a rainy day.
John has only been playing the Veterans’ Lottery since August 2021, so is yet another monthly winner who has taken the pot despite playing for less than 18 months.
And, proving that the Veterans’ Lottery really is a UK-wide lotto, the second prize travelled more than 450 miles south of John in Scotland.
Yeovil-based Ashley Joyce landed the £2,000 runner-up cheque and the 36-year-old from Somerset has also only been playing since June 2021.
A further 40 players each bagged the £120 third prize in the January draw, meaning that almost £12,000 was awarded to Veterans’ Lottery players last month.
Did you know that you can increase your chances of winning one of these great prizes, including a huge £35,000 if you win the rollover jackpot, by playing multiple times? You can in fact have up to FIVE entries in each month’s draw.
To sign up and play the Veterans’ Lottery or to boost your chances to win, please click the button below – every sign up will support those British Armed Forces personnel who need our help.
To keep up to date with everything that your Veterans’ Lottery subscription and donations are helping the Veterans’ Foundation to do, you can subscribe to our monthly newsletter on the button below, delivered straight to your e-mail inbox.
Thank you for your amazing support and the very best of luck in future Veterans’ Lottery draws!
