Man threw away £100,000 winning scratchcard

A post worker says his life has been ruined after he threw away a winning £100,000 scratchcard - because he didn't know the rules. Cemal Celikkanat's marriage has broken down and he says his workmates tease him after he binned a card bearing three £100,000 symbols. The Royal Mail driver, who has been playing scratchcards for six years, believed the amounts had to be in a line to win.

But the day after throwing away a fortune he discovered Camelot paid out for three of a kind anywhere on the card in the £100,000 Blue game. The 38-year-old desperately checked the bin outside the shop where he bought the ticket - Charnock News and Booze, on Charnock Dale Road, Charnock - but was told it was emptied every day and the contents sent to Sheffield incinerator.



He obtained the serial number from shopkeeper Geoff Wright but Camelot has said it cannot pay out without a ticket. Cemal, of Fairview Road, Dronfield, groaned: "When I found out I felt dizzy and dropped to my knees - it was like being hit over the head. I threw away £100,000. I feel so terrible, I think about it every day, it's had a massive impact on my life.

"I have left my wife - we were having financial difficulties and this was the final straw. My colleagues tease me saying I must be rich because I can afford to throw away a fortune. When I bought my first scratchcard six years ago you had to have three in a row to win. I assumed that applied to all the games I've played since then - I can't bear to think about how much money I've thrown away."