Cumbernauld newsagent helps raise millions

The family-owned shop and post office at the heart of the village was founded some 50 years ago and is still going strong. Today the business is run by David Wales and his wife Donna, who were astonished to learn their contribution to various good causes was so substantial. They were given a poster to display in store informing customers of this accomplishment.

David said: “Our area rep for the lottery came in and told us, and she was really excited because it’s very unusual for an independent retailer to have sold so many tickets. When you’re selling the tickets day in day out it’s easy to forget that so much of the money goes to good causes, so it’s a nice feeling to get a reminder like this.

“I play the lottery myself for a few quid a week but we have some customers who will spend a hundred pounds every week on tickets. We’ve seen quite a few big wins over the years, seven or eight thousand pounds or sometimes more, which we’ve been able to cover because we’re also a post office.”

David also has a lottery story which could raise a few eyebrows among our readers and possibly even result in the odd panicked dash to the wardrobe.

“Last year I was told that we had sold a jackpot-winning ticket but it hadn’t been claimed.”

David has a theory as to what could have happened regarding the mystery jackpot winner. “People sometimes come in and buy tickets for weddings, lucky dips to give to their guests as favours, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone had a ticket worth millions lying forgotten about in a sporran.”

So far the National Lottery has raised more than £30 billion for good causes and there is an average ratio of 128 lottery grants to each postal district in the UK. And ticket sales are at an all time high so that shows no signs of slowing down.

Duncan Malyon, Sales Director of Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be recognising our retail partners for the outstanding contribution they make – week in, week out – to society through selling National Lottery products. It’s a great way to remind them, and our players, that every ticket bought has life-changing potential in terms of the chance to win huge amounts of money, but the fact that a percentage of every ticket sold goes to Good Cause funding that benefits people and communities throughout the UK.”