A mother-of-three who became a multi-millionaire from a £1.50 bet says she now knows who her real friends are after one pal made up a chilling lie to try to get money from her.
Kelly Dighton, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, won £11.5 million with Arron Freeman in June 2015 while playing the 'Mega Moolah' online slot game on Betfred. The couple, who were engaged, have since split the money and gone their separate ways.
Friend's false brain tumour claim
Speaking on the Tea At Four podcast, Kelly said: "You find out who your real friends are. I mean, I get begging letters every day. There's only so many people you can help."
She added: "People stoop real low, like 'I think I've got a brain tumour.' One of my friends said to me, 'I've got to have scans on a brain tumour. Can you lend me some money?' And then it wasn't true. It's not true. Why would you do that?"
Kelly, whose social media tagline is "from council estate to multi-millionaire", said she still feels "numb" about the win and checks her bank balance every morning to make sure it wasn't a dream. She has also faced more sinister threats, saying: "When you win that kind of money, you are in a bubble. I had death threats, people saying they were going to kidnap me to my partner. So we just had to get in a car and go."
Life before the win
Kelly speaks openly on TikTok about her past drug addiction. She has been sober since winning the cash, but just four months before the windfall she crashed into the car of an off-duty police officer while high on drugs. She pleaded guilty to drug driving, driving without insurance and driving while banned, and received a suspended 17-week prison sentence.
Because she can no longer drive, her most extravagant personal purchase was an expensive watch. She has been generous with her money, buying her cousin a £425,000 house after she had been living in a council house with serious issues. She also gave her mum and sister £325,000 and bought a van with a ramp for a friend whose three-year-old disabled child cannot walk.
Trust and future plans
Kelly said she will remain single for an indefinite period, as it will take her a "long time" to get over her former partner. She said: "Who can I trust? I couldn't even trust my best friend, who can I trust?"
Her biggest lesson, she said, is that money can't buy love but it can buy happiness. She has put millions aside for her children, saying: "I can give them what they need. I can in a comfortable house and I've got no money worries, of course I'm going to be happy. I could jet off to Spain, Jamaica. Like, when people say that don't buy happiness, that does. It don't buy love, and it don't buy health, but it definitely buys happiness."
Kelly had initially planned to stay anonymous after winning the jackpot, but word spread quickly in her small town. She spoke about the most "ridiculous" money request she has received: "Someone messaged me on Facebook saying, 'Me and my partner have retired, but we really want to live in Spain and open a dog shelter — will you please give us £50,000 to move to Spain and open a dog shelter?'"
