Gary MacDonald went from delivering goods for a living to winning £5m, marrying his sweetheart and starring in a TV ad in just five months.
A delivery driver whose life changed forever after winning the lotto is celebrating once again after marrying his sweetheart and making his big screen debut in a new advert.
Gary MacDonald, 60, from Essex scooped a fabulous Lotto jackpot of £5,208,504 in April this year. At the time he famously said he had never been sworn at so much as he shared the news with friends and family.
Since the win, Gary has retired from his job delivering goods to Lakeside Shopping Centre and married his long-term partner, Anita. The couple have also been searching for their dream home, and garden, and hope to move soon.”
But things became even more surreal for Gary after he was chosen as one of the faces for Allwyn’s new ad campaign which is bringing back the iconic “It Could Be You” advertising tagline this Autumn. It was first used to launch the UK’s first ever National Lottery all the way back in November 1994.
On set Gary said, “The last four months have been absolutely amazing. I’ve made so many people happy, I’ve made myself happy, I have retired, and I have finally married my beautiful wife after 25 years. It’s been a year of many firsts for me and the filming of this was another crazy one.
“They had me playing golf in one scene, trying to get out of a bunker. I gave it my best shot, but I may be better suited to crazy golf. I was just a regular delivery driver a few months back and now I am in an advertisement. It’s mad.”
Other lucky winners featured in the new ad include Sarah Cockings from Newcastle who won £3,045,705 at age 21 and famously paid for his sister’s boob job and Chris and Geraldine Bradley from South Wales who were part of a family syndicate with grandfather, Bob, and father, Barry, and shared a £3,570,063 win in 2006.
Sarah treated herself to a Swarovski diamond-studded watch immediately after winning. She has since bought her own house in the Whitley Bay area and invested some of her win. She is raising her four children and has also paid for breast enhancement surgery for herself and her two sisters.
Speaking at the advertisement filming, she said “I have never done any acting before and have loved being part of this and being on set with all the other winners. It’s been a great experience.”
Chris and Geraldine Bradley, 54 and 56, won a share of a family syndicate Lotto win of £3,570,063 on 11 March 2006. They live in the Pembrey area, Wales, where the couple are currently renovating their new home.
“I never wanted to give up my job as a hairdresser, so I still work two full days a week. I love chatting to the customers.” The money has allowed the couple to indulge their passion for motorbikes.
For Geraldine’s 40th, she treated herself to a £7,000, 600cc Honda motorbike with a top speed of 156mph. Now, every weekend the couple don their motorbike leathers and go riding.
The original slogan, along with the giant gold hand, has not been seen on screens for more than 26 years and has now been reimagined to reach new audiences.
As The National Lottery’s flagship game, Lotto has created over 3,500 millionaires since the first draw in November 1994. Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery, will be using the ad to showcase real people winning huge amounts of cash.
The campaign features real Lotto millionaire winners from across the years in cameo roles declaring “We won, and you could too”.
Steve Parkinson, Brand & Marketing Director at Allwyn UK, operator of The National Lottery, said: “The original tagline ‘It Could Be You’ has always struck a chord with our players and it has never left us. We know our players still use the phrase when they buy tickets and enter the draw and there is a great amount of nostalgia attached to it. But there’s also a new generation of players that want those ‘what if’ magic moments that Lotto provides.
“People win Lotto week in, week out, and we all have a chance if we buy a ticket. We wanted to embrace that and involve some of the real winners from across the years to demonstrate that anyone can win.”
The advert will broadcast on TV first tonight with a peak Coronation Street slot.