Hibs syndicate bank Â£1 million in Lottery win

Hibs fans won a life changing sum of money and celebrated at Easter Road. Picture; contributed

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In the Lotto Medal Draw on Saturday August 27 there were an additional 67 life changing prizes up for grabs to celebrate each of the medals won by Team GB in Rio and to thank players for their ongoing support of our elite athletes.

The syndicate, made up of six retired friends – Douglas Gibson (72), William Mackie (65), Jim Robertson (65), David Hannan (65), David Hastie (71) and Stewart McLaren (73) – has been running since The National Lottery’s inception in 1994.

The lottery hosted extra games to celebrate Team GB's Olympic success. Picture; contributed

The group named themselves the ‘ScottieHibbies’ - playing homage to their old local The Scottie Pub and their love of Hibernian F.C, where they celebrated their win over the weekend.

Syndicate leader, Douglas said, “I can’t believe it – I’m totally shell-shocked!

“We’ve been playing two lines a week, every week, for so long that it almost became a part of our ritual – I never in my wildest dreams thought we’d win, let alone a life changing £1M!”

Speaking about how they discovered their win, he added, “It was my wife Sheena’s 70th birthday on Sunday August 28, so late morning she decided to check her emails for any birthday wishes when she discovered an email from the lottery. She let out an almighty scream when she opened it and realised how much we’d won. We both couldn’t believe it and Sheena just kept saying ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best birthday ever’ - that’s a memory I’ll never forget.

“We phoned all the other syndicate members and they were in such shock.

“I don’t think they truly believed it until they seen the email for themselves.

“It was good timing though as we had Sheena’s 70th birthday party that Sunday so got the chance to celebrate together with family and friends.

“Sheena was too excited she even printed and laminated the congratulations email from The National Lottery and was showing everyone at the party ‘her best birthday card ever’ – I don’t know how I’m going to top that in the years to come.

“We’re all still on such a high; quite a few have already been out to buy new cars! I think I’ll wait until the money is in my bank before I buy anything substantial.

“Sheena did treat herself to a well-deserved shopping spree and we’ll be looking into a new car along with a luxury cruise. This certainly secures my season ticket for Hibs for many years to come as well!”

The ScottieHibbies syndicate played online and benefitted from the additional games played to celebrate Team GBs Olympic success.