Millionaire wins $1m a year scratch-card prize

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE London investment banker has landed the top prize of $1million a year for life in a new scratch-card game.

Kenan Altunis, 33, head of foreign exchange sales at the UniCredit bank, scooped the first jackpot in a New York lottery.

The remarkable win comes at a time when thousands of City workers are losing their jobs or having to accept deep cuts in bonuses because of the credit crunch.

Turkish-born Mr Altunis insisted the win would not "materially change my life". "I have been a very blessed and fortunate person."

The Chelsea supporter gave his mother $100 to spend on lottery tickets on a trip to New York last month. She bought three of the $30 tickets then threw in $20 of her own to pay for a fourth, which won.

The top prize was a $1million-a-year income (£604,000 on current exchange rates) with a guaranteed payout of $20million if he dies in less than 20 years. After tax he will receive $931,500 (£565,000) a year.

The banker has lived in the capital since 1997, took British citizenship in 2003 and "absolutely" considers himself a Londoner. Mr Altunis lives with his wife and young daughter in a flat in Clerkenwell.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in