Father accused of faking scratchcard says he’s ‘nothing to hide’

Unemployed father-of-four accused of faking £200,000 scratchcard jackpot says he’s ‘nothing to hide’ as National Lottery chiefs call in fraud police

  • Unemployed Eric Walker, 56, claims he had scratched three matching symbols 
  • It comes after he bought National Lottery’s £3-a-time Pharoah’s Fortune card
  • 16 co-ordinates are given to scratch off squares in hope of matching symbols
  • But lottery organisers Camelot say one of card’s co-ordinates was ‘altered’
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Eric Walker, pictured with his partner Amanda Emmadi, claimed he won on the scratchcard

The father-of-four accused of having a faked ‘winning’ £200,000 scratchcard today vowed to prove he was innocent after lottery bosses reported him to police.

Unemployed Eric Walker, 56, of Sheffield, claimed the big money win after saying he had scratched three matching symbols on the National Lottery ‘s £3-a-time Pharoah’s Fortune card.

Sixteen co-ordinates are given on the cards which are used to scratch off squares on a grid in the hope of matching three pharaoh symbols.

But lottery organisers Camelot have refused to pay up saying that one of the co-ordinates on the card was ‘altered’ – and they have now called in police.

Mr Walker told The Sun today: ‘I have nothing to hide because I haven’t done anything wrong, I know the card hasn’t been tampered with. 

‘The police can show me how the card has been altered because I can’t see it. They can do what they want.


The winning co-ordinate F5 appears to have been changed to an E5 – something Mr Walker denies and says must be result of a misprint

‘If it has been altered then I have no explanation for it because I bought the card and haven’t done anything to it. I don’t have the skills to fake a scratchcard.’

The winning co-ordinate F5 appears to have been changed to an E5 – something Mr Walker denies and says must be result of a misprint. In addition, both the F5 and E5 symbols have been scratched off. 

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Now, Mr Walker has invited police to visit his him to view the ticket – and insisted that he is the one who has been cheated.

He told the Sun: ‘I’m not going to admit to something I haven’t done, that’s stupid. I don’t want to back down over this.’


An emailed response from Camelot to Mr Walker, which said the F had been changed to an E

A Camelot spokesman has confirmed that an investigation had been launched and it was found that a co-ordinate had been altered.

However Mr Walker is refusing to back down and says that the money would be ‘life changing’ for him and his partner Amanda Emmadi, 37.

Mr Walker, who buys six scratchcards a day, has four children aged 14 months, two-and-a-half, three and nine years old.

Speaking yesterday, he said: ‘In my eyes I’ve won £200,000 and I’m being cheated out of the money.


Mr Walker bought the scratchcard from a Premier corner shop near his house in Sheffield

‘They’re trying to tell me that an F has been changed to an E but I bought the ticket and scratched it myself. I haven’t doctored it, I’m not trying to cheat. 

How do the Pharoah’s Fortune cards work?

Pharaoh’s Fortune is a scratchcard game with five top prizes of £200,000.

There is a 1 in 3.71 chance of winning a prize on each scratchcard, with an initial print run of 12,667,200 cards.

The scratchcard has two areas – headed ‘your grid coordinates’, with 16 letter and number coordinates; and ‘your grid’, with 36 squares showing a symbol with a corresponding caption.

Players start by scratching off the ‘your grid coordinates’ section to reveal the 16 coordinates. They should then scratch the squares in the ‘your gird’ section to reveal the symbols.

The owner of a ticket whose coordinates reveal three matching symbols in the ‘your grid’ section win a prize, as indicated on the ticket’s table.

‘If it’s a misprint then that’s their fault and they should still pay out, it’s nothing to do with me. 

‘I’m going to keep pressure on Camelot to sort this out, I’m not willing to let it go.’

Mr Walker bought the scratchcard from a Premier corner shop near his house three weeks ago and scratched it straight away.

The game requires players to reveal a series of map co-ordinates and corresponding squares on a game board.

Mr Walker’s card shows that he uncovered three pharaoh symbols on squares D1, E5 and A5, however, the E5 code appears to have been doctored.

The F5 square, which the code was originally believed to have been, is also scratched off.

A Camelot spokesman said: ‘Based on the photo we were sent we were able to re-construct the scratchcard in our system.

‘We can confirm that an F has been altered to appear as an E and is therefore not a winning scratchcard.

‘The scratchcard has not been recalled and we will be reporting this matter to the police.’

‘Lotto Gran’ tried to claim £33m jackpot by alleging she had put the ticket in the washing machine


Susanne Hinte infamously tried to claim a £33million lottery jackpot by alleging she had put the ticket in the washing machine

A grandmother infamously tried to claim a £33million lottery jackpot by alleging she had put the ticket in the washing machine.

Susanne Hinte, who sadly died after suffering a heart attack at her home in Worcester aged 49 in August 2017, became known as the ‘Lotto Gran’.

The grandmother-of-four contacted Camelot after claiming she found the winning ticket in her jeans which had been damaged in the wash.

German-born Ms Hinte alleged she had won half the £66million jackpot from the draw in January 2016 after it was revealed the winning ticket was bought in her hometown.

But when she sent in the crumpled ticket, investigators from Camelot’s security team soon determined the ticket was not correct.


This photograph was claimed to be an image of the ‘winning’ ticket Ms Hinte submitted

In January 2017, Ms Hinte’s former friend was found guilty of revenge porn after selling pictures of her topless and wearing lingerie to a newspaper.

Worcester Magistrates’ Court was told Julie Howard received £750 for the images to get her own back for hiding her hair curlers in a tumble dryer.

Ms Hinte had also been before the courts. In July 2016, she was cleared of stealing a woman’s purse following a three day trial in Birmingham.

And in April 2016 a charge that Ms Hinte stole an Xbox controller from a man she had met online was dropped when he declined to attend court.

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