Scotland's first-ever global lottery winner has 'Best Birthday Ever' visiting Caribbean isle to claim prize
ST. JOHNS, ANTIGUA, June 24, 2013 /CNW/ - After winning €1,000,000 in The BiLLe Lotto, ($1.3M/£850,000) Glasgow midwife Michelle Drayton-Harrold is happily back home from an adventurous trip to the island nation of Antigua to claim her prize.
"Michelle is a beautiful person, and it was great fun to tour her around the island," says The BiLLe Lotto's General Manager Cathleen McIntosh. "The timing just happened to coincide with Michelle's birthday, and on that day we took her for a helicopter ride to the neighbouring island of Montserrat."
"Best birthday present ever," says Ms. Drayton-Harrold, 52, about the helicopter trip. "The best was seeing live sea turtles in the water."
The Glaswegian winner says she enjoyed her stay in Antigua, where she was treated like royalty by The BiLLe on an all-expenses-paid visit and toured the island's historic and cultural attractions: "Antigua is amazing. I like the culture, all the colours of the forest, the flowers, the houses. And I like the people the best."
And like Nancy Foster of Canada, another recent winner of €1,000,000 on The BiLLe, Ms. Drayton-Harrold expects the win will change her life: "I'd like to think I'll be almost the same as I am, just a little bit … richer. " She says she will buy a car (though "not a Ferrari") and retire from her job of 28 years as a midwife to care fore her ailing father.
The official check presentation was unusual in that it was the first time the lottery has ever received a gift in return, Ms. McIntosh says. "Michelle presented us with us a Quaich, a traditional Scottish drinking cup, as a sign of friendship."
The BiLLe Lotto is active in more than 130 countries, Ms. McIntosh says, and the primary jackpot value, now estimated at over €122 million ($161M/£104M) is currently the world's biggest and will continue accumulating until it either reaches one billion Euros or is won.
The BiLLe Lotto Ltd. is licensed in Antigua & Barbuda, a jurisdiction white-listed by the UK government and ranked among the world's most stringent gaming regulators. Weekly draws are made with an industry-certified ball machine and monitored by a third party agency.
Results are announced first on Twitter @TheBiLLe
Image with caption: "Million-Euro winner Michelle Drayton-Harrold of Glasgow, UK gets the royal treatment in Antigua while claiming her lottery jackpot. Ms. Drayton-Harrold is Scotland's first-ever winner of a global online lotto. (CNW Group/The BiLLe Lotto Ltd.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130624_C2842_PHOTO_EN_28414.jpg
SOURCE: The BiLLe Lotto Ltd.
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