I was excited by the winning £400,000 lotto scratch card. I left it in the store – I didn't realize it until my kids asked for a photo

A PASTOR who won £400,000 in a lottery jackpot accidentally left his scratch card behind after getting too excited.

Pastor Kevin Frey, 64, was so confused by the huge win that he walked out of the store where he bought it and left the ticket on the counter.

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Kevin, a longtime pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Hampshire, purchased his winning ticket at Casey's, 615 N. Linn Ave – claiming the 8th of 14 top prizes in the £400,000 cash scratch game.

The absent-minded pastor of Iowa soon started calling his family and friends to share the enormous news.

But when one of his adult children asked for a photo of the lotto card, the priest realized he did not have the card with him.

Kevin said: “I was so excited and nervous that I left the card in Casey's shop, went to the car and started calling everyone, first my wife and everyone else.

“And then I realized I don't have it with me.”

Luckily, Kervin was still in the store's parking lot when he learned of his careless mistake.

He then stormed into the store to grab the 'life-changing' piece of paper.

“I was shaking pretty good then, I think,” Kevin said.

“Luckily I was still in the parking lot of the Casey's store and ran back inside and asked the employee for the ticket.

“[The cashier] was so nervous that she forgot to give it to me the first time. So we finally put it on the right page.”

Kevin explained that he might never have realized he left the card if it weren't for his family's reputation as a notorious prankster.

He said, “My kids know I tell pretty good stories sometimes.

“So the oldest son who lives here in Des Moines said it's not true until he sees a picture of the ticket.

“And so we took care of that and he was pretty excited too.”

Frey, who is the money on February 20 revealed how he would like to spend the large sum of money.

He told Iowa Lottery officials that he and his wife, Marian, plan to use some of the money to move closer to their children in Des Moines when they retire.

And they also plan to share the money with family members and charities.

Kevin said: “This is going to help a lot. This is exciting in that way too.

“It will be nice to be able to share some of it with some of our family and some of the charities that we support and have supported for a long time.”

After hitting the jackpot, a humble Kevin continued his Sunday service as if nothing had happened.

The pastor said, “They told me I had a Nice work on the sermon, so I said, 'Well, I guess there was something working in the middle of all that'.”

Best tips for winning the lottery

While there is no way to predict the winning numbers in the lottery since every draw is completely random, here are some ways to increase your chances of winning.

First select the correct game.

The lottery can be any of several games, each with different odds and jackpots.

If you play a game with lower odds, you have a higher chance of winning.

Second, buy more tickets. This sounds obvious, but there are several ways to do this.

Aside from simply spending more yourself, one way to increase your chances of winning is to join one syndicate or swimming pool.

This could be friends, family, colleagues or even strangers – it doesn't matter.

A syndicate or pool is a group of people who buy a certain number of tickets and agree to split the prizes equally no matter who wins.

Another way to win the lottery? Check your ticket!

Unclaimed victories are more common than you think, due to people losing their tickets, forgetting to check them or simply misinterpreting the winning numbers.

Finally, choose random numbers. It is thought that tens of thousands of people choose combinations like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 every week. Don't let that be you!