Sheffield man one number away from winning £1 BILLION US Powerball lotto jackpot

The world went lottery crazy as players from across the globe took their chance to win America’s record-breaking $1.6 billion PowerBall jackpot.

Thousands of UK players got in on the act and one of them came within a whisker of scooping that staggering jackpot.

Gary Fletcher of Sheffield has been a lottery player all his life and after reading about the world-record PowerBall jackpot he went online to find out how he could play from the UK.

When he discovered Lottoland.co.uk. a website allowing those living in the UK to bet on international lottery results he decided to give it a go.

Gary joined thousands of UK players placing bets on the outcome of the biggest lottery draw in history - and ended up missing out on the £1.2 billion fortune by just a single number.

Gary put his numbers on at Lottoland and then continued with his daily life.

But he got a big shock a couple of days later when he checked his account and saw £34,000 had been credited to his account.

Looking for further confirmation Gary opened his e-mails where he found a congratulations message. Moments later the phone rang.

On the other end was Lottoland UK MD James Easterbrook confirming that he had correctly predicted 4 out of 5 main game numbers, as well as the bonus number or ‘PowerBall’, hitting the third prize tier and winning £34k. One more correct main number would have seen Gary win the £1 Billion jackpot.

When asked how he felt after finding out about his win, Gary said: “I was astounded to win, as it was my first time playing PowerBall. I’ve spent years and years playing the UK Lottery and have only ever won a couple of tenners through it. It was stress free, no queueing at the newsagents, the website is easy to use and there are some fantastic offers to be had - you never see the National Lottery giving anything away!”

While Gary admitted he was a little frustrated to be just missing out on the jackpot, he plans to continue playing and will put his £34k winnings to good use.

“I chose the numbers based on those belonging to the houses I’ve lived at. I just wish I had lived somewhere with the door number 20! Still, I’m delighted. The year has got off to a fantastic start. We haven’t fully decided what we will do with the money yet, but we’ll probably have a bit of a party, spend a bit on the house and have a holiday.”