Teenager hits jackpot after tidying bedroom

March 13, 2012

A teenager in Scotland who was told to clean his room last month discovered more than just dirty socks: He found 12 lottery tickets, among them, a winner.

STV in Scotland reported that after his mother nagged him for weeks, Ryan Kitchin, of Penicuik, discovered the stub but didn’t know he had picked a lucky combination of five numbers and the bonus ball for the Feb. 8 draw.

"I was about to bin them but at the last minute I got this strange feeling that I should get them checked,” Kitchin, 19, told the Telegraph of London.

Instead, he brought the tickets to Tesco, the supermarket store where he works part time.

At work, a colleague checked the numbers and named him a winner -- although Kitchin couldn’t tell how much he was about to pocket. A call to the lottery operator Camelot revealed that he won £52,981, or $83,781.

“I had to phone up Camelot and the woman was asking me lots of questions, and I just wanted her to get to the point,” he said, according to the Mirror. “When I gave her the last number of the serial code, she said I had won £52,981. I just couldn't believe it.”

Kitchin’s plans? To pay off his car loan and take his mom on a much-needed vacation.

Source: STV