I won the lottery so many times that I was investigated

A NATIONAL Lottery gambler was made to feel like “some kind of criminal” because she had won so many times.

Amelia Barnham, 69, spends £60 a week on lottery tickets and has won small prizes worth a total of £23,600 several times.

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But after her latest win, £800 on a £1 HotPicks ticket, new operator Allwyn investigated her.

They sent an ex-detective to her house and demanded she prove her identity – saying she was being investigated for winning so many times in the past.

Financial worker Amelia, a grandmother and mother of three, has still not received her winnings after winning three out of five numbers in the draw on February 3.

She said: “This has stressed me out so much and I am furious.

“I was treated like some kind of criminal – and it was intimidating when someone came to my house.

“The numbers came from the national draw – so they thought I was printing the tickets or something?

“I've never had these problems before and I'm afraid this will put people off buying tickets.

“The investigator was an ex-detective who worked in this area for thirty years.

“He showed me his badge, came in, took pictures of my passport and demanded bank statements.

“It is ridiculous.

“He was embarrassed and kept saying sorry.

“He also said, 'I am only the messenger.'

“How can they treat people like that?”

Amelia's problems started two days after the draw when she went to the post office to try to collect her winnings.

The staff there told her to go back to the Tesco where she bought the ticket.

She managed to validate her ticket but was told to contact Allwyn, who replaced Camelot as Lotto operator on February 1.

Amelia, who lives in Hammersmith, west London, with husband Tony, 69, sent the company photos of the front and back of the ticket and was given a claim number.

She was then told that an investigator would visit her home on February 28.

He showed his ID, then took pictures of her ticket, bank card, bank statements, passport and also took a get it from Amelia.

She said: “I asked why I was being investigated.

“It made me feel very uncomfortable and angry.

“He said it was because of the number of wins I had won and that hopefully I would hear something within a week, but I'm still waiting.

“If this happened to someone who was very old, they wouldn't like anyone coming to their house.

“It can be quite scary.

“It's been over a month now since I won.

“I find it disgusting and disgraceful the way I have been treated, and I am sure many others have been treated.

“I will never buy tickets again – not if I'm going to have this kind of trouble getting the winnings that are owed to me.

“I would like to warn other players not to buy tickets as I don't like to think that others will have to go through the same situation as it is quite disturbing.”

A spokesperson for Allwyn said: “This is a new claims process following the Post Office's decision to no longer pay out National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.

“Security checks are an important part of the process of validating a winning ticket to ensure we maintain the integrity of the National Lottery.

“All our players are very important to us and we strive to provide them with the most positive experience possible, so we are sorry to hear Ms Barnham's concerns and we will certainly be in touch with her as we wish. Speak to those with her.”

The Sun said this week that prizes between £500 and £50,000 can no longer be collected from post offices and that winners must now verify their numbers