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A BARMAN who claimed he won £4.4million on the lottery was lying low last night after it emerged he made the story up.
Daniel Betts, 20, told his friends and family he scooped the jackpot with a lucky dip ticket he bought from his fiancee Katie Else at a local shop.
News spread quickly around their village. The couple even gave an interview to their local newspaper.
But when asked to produce his winning ticket, Daniel claimed he had sent it off by post to lottery operator Camelot.
Yet Camelot said that the November 5 jackpot of £8.91million was split between two winners, one anonymous and the other from Gloucester.
Yesterday Daniel refused to speak to reporters at his family's council house, but his dad Steve said he now accepts Daniel had not won the lottery.
Alnoor Ladha, owner of Jaspers, the shop where Daniel claimed the ticket was bought from, said: "I am astounded. Katie only started work here four weeks before the supposed win and then gave up her job.
"I am a bit annoyed but it's sad that it has happened. It doesn't make sense.
"We heard they were having difficulty claiming the money and there were lots of rumours flying around."
Daniel, of Langwith Junction, Notts, had told their friends that he and Katie had scooped half of the £8.91m jackpot prize for the main Lotto draw with the numbers 12, 13, 21, 26, 32 and 39. He boasted how he planned to buy a new Porsche, Lamborghini and stretched Humvee with his millions. And the £90-a-week barman told the local paper: "We'll buy a new house with a games room, spa and indoor pool. It's not going to change me though. I'll keep working behind the bar at the Shirebrook Miners' Welfare.
"We are going to Tenerife and on a cruise next month.
"And I'm going to fly all the family out to Hawaii for our wedding and put them up in a five-star hotel."
Katie, 20, had said: "I've never won anything so to me it was a wind-up. It was just overwhelming."
Daniel's dad Steve, a Derby County fan, told the paper: "I'm over the moon. It's a big thing.
"I could get a box at Pride Park, let alone a season ticket."
Camelot officials insist that to claim a win of more than £50,000, ticket-holders must visit one of their two regional centres. Winners are actively discouraged from posting a ticket in case it is lost.
A 50-year-old local, who did not want to be named, said: "I had been hearing it was a load of balderdash.
"They said they posted the ticket off and a limousine was being sent to collect them. But if I had won £4.4million I would be knocking on Camelot's door first thing on Monday morning. I cannot believe he has done this."
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