A mail driver in the UK has described how he threw away a STG100,000 ($A166,000) winning scratch card because he misunderstood the rules of the game.
Cemal Celikkanat, 38, said he thought the three 100,000 symbols on Camelot`s STG100,000 Blue game had to be in a line to win.
By the time Celikkanat, from Dronfield, near Sheffield, realised the symbols could be anywhere on the three-by-three grid he had already discarded the scratch card and even a frantic search could not help him.
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Now he says it has wrecked his life.
Splits from wife
He told the Sheffield Star: "When I found out I felt dizzy and dropped to my knees - it was like being hit over the head. I threw away STG100,000. I feel so terrible, I think about it every day, it's had a massive impact on my life."
Celikkanat, who works a driver for Royal Mail, said he had split up with his wife because they had been having financial difficulties and the incident was the final straw.
He also said he is constantly teased about it.
The father-of-three said he has played scratch cards for six years and is now wondering how many other winning tickets he has binned.
