Lottery winner hospitalised with ‘euphoria’: weird reactions

Lottery win
Lottery win

Lottery winner, Lou Te Keeti, was rushed to hospital after discovering he had won the jackpot in the New Zealand lottery. He saw that £4.3 million had been added to his bank account and collapsed. Oddly, it's not the most bizarre reaction to a win we have seen.

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Te Keeti, who is in is 70s, tried to get to grips with all the zeros in his bank account, and then carry on as normal. It was when he was on his way to the local supermarket that he started getting heart palpitations. He was rushed to hospital, where doctors could find no medical explanation, and diagnosed a 'case of euphoria'.

Odd reactions to a win

There have been some true bizarre reactions to winning the lottery over the years. Here are seven of our favourites.

1. William and Catherinette Mullarkey recently won £1 million on the EuroMillions lottery. The Coventry couple received an email telling them of the win, and Bill's first reaction was to delete what he assumed was junk mail. After clicking on the message instead, the couple celebrated with a cup of tea.

2. Last year Gerry and Lisa Cannings from near Peterborough decided to put off doing anything about their jackpot win. They had the decorators in for a week and said they had waited ages for an appointment, so didn't want to change their plans. Gerry carried the ticket round with him for seven days and put the celebrations on ice. It was only when the decorating was complete that the couple went public with their £32.5 million win.

3. In 2015, 69-year-old Jane Lewis won £4.3 million. As soon as she heard about the win, the grandmother of 11 caught a bus into town and bought a £18 pair of slippers she had wanted to buy for a while.

4. In 2014 Joseph Whiting, a road sweeper from north London, picked up a £4.5 million jackpot in 2014. He checked his numbers after he woke up for an early shift, but couldn't believe his eyes, and because it was too early to call Camelot, he went to work. It was only after his shift finished when he rang the company and realised he was rich.

5. In 2010, a lottery counsellor told the papers that she had seen some unusual reactions. She recalled one woman who called the winner's hotline, coughing and spluttering. When the counsellor asked if she was OK, she called admitted that she was in her 70s and had just tried to smoke the first cigarette of her life - because she thought it might calm her down.

6. The counsellor also spoke to a man who collected his £12 million cheque, and bought a new house on the way home.

7. Last year an Australian lottery revealed some of the weirdest reactions they'd had to a win. Apparently, they had real trouble telling one man he had won $100,000, because he thought they were trying to sell him something, and hung up the phone.

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