£5.2M Lotto Jackpot Winner Delivers ‘Lotto’ Loveliness at Lakeside – Essex Magazine

One year after discovering a £5.2M jackpot win on Lotto, a dedicated delivery driver, who hung up his keys after his life-changing win, headed back to his old place of work to deliver his own brand of winning joy, leaving former colleagues speechless. 
For more than 30 years, Gary MacDonald (61) delivered parcels to stores and colleagues across Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, becoming a familiar face to retailers and staff alike, until one morning last year, when he woke up at 5.30am as usual, checked his emails and discovered he was £5.2M better off.
Having taken a year ‘off’ Gary headed back to Lakeside for one last delivery, surprising the shop managers who had always made time for a quick friendly chat as Gary made his rounds. Only now, in place of the usual retail parcels, Gary’s delivery was an armful of Lotto loveliness for the lucky store managers and, naturally, a Lotto Lucky Dip ticket.
When Gary celebrated his own Lotto jackpot win, he vowed he would head back to his old place of work. Before doing so he had quite a few things to tick off his ‘I’ve won the Lotto Jackpot’ list, top of which was a wedding and a new home.
Now 12 months on, happily married to Anita, and settled in a beautiful four bed detached new home, Gary hasn’t forgotten his promise. He said,
“It’s been a crazy 12 months, from discovering I’d won a £5.2M Lotto Jackpot and starring in the Lotto TV ad, to getting married and moving house. It’s a good job I retired early – being a Lotto millionaire is turning out to be a full-time occupation!
“That said, I’m delighted to come out of retirement for the day to fulfil the promise I made myself. It’s been great surprising my old colleagues, their faces have been a picture, I think we’ve done a brilliant job of surprising them and spreading the joy with today’s deliveries!”
Among those left reeling was Donna Samuels, manager at Babyeze, who struggled to find words after Gary’s shock visit:
“I’m speechless, what an incredible surprise, he absolutely didn’t need to do this, but I’m so touched that he has. Then again, Gary sharing the joy is typical of him, just goes to show what a diamond he is.
“For as long as I can remember, Gary was here every day, rain or shine, with a joke and a smile, so when he suddenly wasn’t there one day last year, I worried there was something wrong. I was over the moon when I discovered the real reason, winning on The National Lottery honestly couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap.” 
Gary, who was visibly moved by the amazing reception he received at Lakeside from his old colleagues, explained his motivation,
“My alarm would go off at 5.30am and I would crack on with my working day. I’ve always taken great pride in doing a job well and that’s what I did all those years at Lakeside, but what really made it was the many people I’d see daily.
“With a friendly wave, a few words, or on a rare occasion a cup of tea, we built connections, so when I hit the Lotto jackpot those people who had been such a part of my daily working life were always in my plans.
“It’s taken a while to get back here, but looking at the happy faces and the laughter, it’s been worth the wait. The only problem, my fabulous wife Anita has used the opportunity for a little bit of a shopping spree!”
Gary delivered his own brand of Lotto loveliness to former colleagues at Babyeze, Beaverbrooks and Moss.
From this month, Lotto is changing. Every £2 Lotto line will give players two chances to win, all for the same price and with the same number of balls to choose from. The changes will create hundreds more millionaires each year (expected to go from around 140 a year to approximately 345), with players’ chances of winning any prize improving from 1 in 9.3 to 1 in 4.9. As well as making more millionaires and more prize winners, it will mean even more money raised for Good Causes across the UK.
Nancy Foster, Centre Director at Lakeside Shopping Centre, added: “Gary has been such a well-known and valued part of the Lakeside community for many years, so it was incredibly special to welcome him back and see the reaction from our retailers. The warmth and connection shared across the centre really reflects the community spirit we’re proud of at Lakeside.”