£10,000-a-month lottery win goes on the cat’s treatment

BY ALICE FULLER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A couple scooped a lottery win of £10,000-a-month for the next 30 years and have spent this month’s winnings on their cat’s cancer treatment.

Gavin and Sylvia Odolant-Smith, from Battersea, were told rescue cat Phangan needed expensive vet care which would have put a dent in their savings.

Within seconds of the win being confirmed, Phangan’s vet appointment was, too.

Catering manager Sylvia, 42, matched all six numbers on the National Lottery Set for Life game after buying a lucky dip ticket on the bus home from work.

She said: “I heard it was 25 years of the National Lottery and joked if there was a prize for matching no numbers, I’d be a winner every time. And now here we are, quite literally Set for Life.”

Sylvia discovered she had hit the £3.6m jackpot on Friday, November 1, before work.

She said: “I was idly checking through my emails when I saw one from the National Lottery congratulating me on a win.

“I was excited, thinking I’d won a fiver, maybe even £10, but when I couldn’t see any change in my funds, I realised it must be a bit more.

“Then I looked more closely in my messages, and wow.

“I always used to daydream that if I won the lottery, I’d plan a really special way to share the news with Gavin.

“Waking him up at 6.30am waving my phone in his face screeching ‘look at this, look at this’ definitely wasn’t it!”

Gavin and Sylvia celebrated over champagne at a bar in Oxford Circus on Wednesday, November 6.

The couple said they will remain grounded despite the big win and have no plans to give up their jobs.

Sylvia said: “We have both worked in the catering industry for years. It’s hard work – 60-hour weeks are the norm for us – but it’s an environment we thrive in and we both work for great companies, so we have no plans to give up our careers any time soon.”

Sylvia made clear she wants to support those less fortunate, and will donate to several charities, including the Wood Green Animal Shelter, where Phangan and their other cat, Zia, came from.

Sylvia has also decided to support homeless charity Whitechapel Mission after seeing a message asking for donations on the train.

The couple have drawn up a list of things they want to do with the rest of the money.

As well as the cats, they plan to spend the winnings on a Disneyland trip for their nieces.

Pub manager Gavin, 40, also hopes to start French lessons ahead of a dream move across the Channel.

Sylvia bought her winning ticket using the National Lottery app and her winning numbers were 4, 12, 17, 28, 36 and the Life Ball 07.