A shopping trip for charity turned into a Christmas that Derry housewife Stephanie Harkin (28) and her husband, Kieran (33), will never forget after winning £100k on a Diamond Riches Scratchcard from National Lottery GameStore. “”

THEY say diamonds are a girl’s best friend but they are even more so when you three pop up on a scratchcard.

For a shopping trip for charity turned into a Christmas that housewife Stephanie Harkin will never forget after striking it rich on a National Lottery scratchcard.

Stephanie was in her local Tesco store on Thursday 17 December buying Christmas presents for a school charity project when she decided to pick up a Diamond Riches Scratchcard from National Lottery GameStore.

The mum of two could not believe her eyes when the card revealed she had matched three Diamonds to bag a massive £100,000 – making a dream come true.

“I’ve always dreamed of winning a lot of money but never really thought it would happen to me,” said Stephanie from Drumahoe, Derry.

“My two young sons had to bring a present to school the next day to place under the Christmas tree for St Vincent de Paul, so we all went along with my mum to Tesco on Lisnagelvin Road to buy the presents.

“While we were there, I bought myself a Diamond Riches Scratchcard which I scratched in the foyer as we were waiting for my mum to finish up her shopping.

“Once I saw the three diamonds, I knew that I had won a large amount as I’d played this card before, but I didn’t want to get too excited,” continued Stephanie.

“I checked the amounts on the card and when my mum returned, I kept telling her quietly that I’d won a hundred grand.

“I kept my voice down as I didn’t want to make a scene but I was completely shaking all over and couldn’t even remember the pin number to unlock my phone and call my husband” she added.

When she finally remembered the pin number and called her husband Kieran, a 33-year-old mechanic who runs his own business, he didn’t believe her and told her to go to the checkout desk and ask the shop assistant to check the scratchcard.

“The girl behind the counter looked at my card and got visibly excited before telling me that she couldn’t pay me over the counter as I’d won £100k!” described Stephanie.

“I had to calm myself down before I was fit to drive, then drove home to Kieran and we called the National Lottery straight away, who confirmed that we had won!” she added.

Luckily for Stephanie, all of her Christmas shopping had already been sorted when she struck it lucky so she has had time to relax with her family and think about how to spend her new found fortune.

The New Year will now bring a dream family trip to Disneyland Paris, as well as a sun holiday in Benidorm.

“We had a truly lovely Christmas, made all the better with that warm fuzzy feeling that a hundred grand in the bank can give you,” said Stephanie. “Now we can’t wait to get away on holiday – especially our trip to Disney for the first time, as I know the boys will absolutely love it.

“Apart from that, our feet will remain firmly on the ground,” she continued.  “We are a very close family, my family is my life and we will continue to love our lives together as we always have.”

Stephanie’s winning Diamond Riches Scratchcard cost just £2 and offers a 1 in 4.24 overall chance of winning a prize, which can range from £2 to the top prize of £100,000.

“It’s still hard to take it all in,” concluded Stephanie.  “The most I’ve ever won before is £10 so this win really is a dream come true for me.   You never think that it’ll happen to you but I’m proof to everyone out there that it can!”

GameStore is the new home of scratchcards and online Instant Win Games from The National Lottery, offering players many different and exciting ways to play and win life changing prizes.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners like Stephanie as well as communities across the UK for more than 20 years with players raising, on average, over £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.

In Northern Ireland alone there have been well over 20,000 individual National Lottery grants awarded to individuals, organisations and projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors.

For more information on National Lottery funding please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.