A teenage lottery winner has vowed to keep her job despite winning £1.3 million on the lottery.
Eloise Hutchinson, 19, from Colchester, Essex won the life changing sum in the New Year’s Eve lottery draw after buying her ticket in a Lucky Dip on December 30th – but went straight back to working on the checkout at her local Co Op.
Eloise, who lives with her mother and younger sister, thought that winning the lottery would be ‘a good way to start the New Year’ as she bought the ticket from the Co Op in The Square, Colchester, where she currently works.
She and her family were stunned when she realised all her numbers had been called out:
“It still has not sunk in. Not at all. I didn’t know how much it was and went downstairs to tell my Mum, she just didn’t believe me.”
Celebrating her new found wealth, Eloise’s boyfriend, David Heard, paid for their celebratory meal at the Lexden Crown pub in Colchester. Mr Heard, who works as a waiter, said: “I did not mind paying - it was my treat, it cost me just over £60.”
After paying in her check to the bank on Friday 6th January, Eloise who also plays online bingo spent some of her winnings on a Saturday shopping trip at the Lakeside shopping centre, buying an iPad and some new clothes, but she has promised that the win won’t change her lifestyle, commenting that it will simply “make everything just a little bit easier.”
“I can now buy a house and will replace my old Ford Fiesta. I would love to take a holiday in Jamaica but not until later in the year.”
Although Eloise is keeping her job at the Co Op, her lottery winnings will help her pursue her own mobile beauty therapy business, which she set up last year with the help of the Prince’s Trust.
Eloise’s winning lottery numbers were 7, 11, 37, 38, 42, 44.
