Due to a “confusing loophole,” a lady who won a $2 million mansion in a lottery received only $5,000.
A Radford teacher named Loretta who won a Win My Home contest later claimed she only received a small portion of the lottery money.
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Win My Home posted the congratulatory video of Loretta on their website with the caption: “Congratulations to our Winner, Lorreta from Nottingham!
“Newly married of 2.5 months, she and her husband have been looking to buy their first home together!
“We’re so happy for you both and wish you all the best for your next chapter.”
The clip, just under a minute long, shows a woman approach Loretta’s home with a bouquet of flowers before announcing: “You’re the winner of our Nottingham prize draw.”
Since then, however, Loretta was left beyond ‘heartbroken’ after later being informed she would not in fact be getting the swish accommodation and instead would be receiving a few thousand quid.
She told Nottinghamshire Live: “It was heartbreaking because my property at the moment is a death-trap, that’s why I entered it [the competition].”
Loretta recalled how she was informed of her victory: “Two people came and they said, ‘Yes you’ve won,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, where are my keys?'”
And they informed me that while I had not won the house, I had instead won a $5,000 grand prize. I responded, “Right, thanks,” to which they replied, “Unfortunately, I can’t offer you the house since we didn’t raise enough money.
Loretta was reportedly informed that Win My Home could transfer the substantially smaller cash directly to her bank account in lieu of giving her the keys to the opulent estate.
But Loretta and her husband made it clear that they were beyond eager to leave their house, stating: “All we’re trying to do is get out of this property.”
Hoping for a ‘new start’, the woman has since said she’s been approached by people congratulating her win after seeing the announcement.
“People have got in touch with me saying congratulations, but I say ‘don’t congratulate me because I didn’t win’. They say I’m lying,” she continued. “I need everyone to stop saying congratulations. It’s not that I’m not grateful for the £5,000.
“Even if they said we can’t give you the house but here’s £50,000, it’s something. But £5,000? £5,000 now can’t even get you gas and electrics.”
Email correspondence between Loretta and Win My Home see the latter stating the terms of conditions are ‘very explicit’, and that any winner would receive just a percentage of the net profit if enough money was not raised.
The messages read: “Unfortunately, after nearly £200,000 in marketing costs and the issue that we discussed about not being able to process Visa payments for a long time, there was no profit and in fact we made a loss.
“The amount that we have awarded actually came from our own personal pockets because, we wanted to award you something as a goodwill gesture and hoped that it would make a positive difference to your lives.
