Brian Somers, a self-employed gardener from Sunderland, couldn't believe his luck when he managed to bag a record jackpot $1,092957.68 from just a nine pence stake at an online casino.
The 39-year-old deposited 18 cents, the equivalent of nine English pennies, on online gaming site PartyCasino's Super Fortune Wheel and managed to win the PartyMega Jackpot, making it the biggest win from such a small stake ever to occur in an remote casino.
Mr Somers, who lives on a council estate, usually earns a salary of only £5,000 to £10,000 a year and the largest amount he has ever won from gambling is £40 on the National Lottery.
He describes what happened: "All of a sudden the screen started flashing. I was asked to choose six smiley faces. Four revealed golden dollars and the ticker at the top of the screen started to race and all these numbers came up.
"It said I had won over a million dollars. I thought it was a mistake. I turned the computer off and even unplugged it. I then logged back on saw $1,092957.68 on the screen and got on the phone and they said 'your balance is over $1 million dollars sir.'"
Mummy's boy Brian now says that he will use some of the money to take care of his dear old mum and his two brothers and three sisters while he will also buy season tickets to Sunderland FC for him and his six-year-old boy Corey.
But his love of his green-fingered job means that he will not give up his day job. "I also want to expand my gardening business. I have turned down jobs because I hadn't got one of those big motorised mowers and definitely want to get one of them," Mr Somers said.
Brian Somers, a self-employed gardener from Sunderland, couldn't believe his luck when he managed to bag a record jackpot $1,092957.68 from just a nine pence stake at an online casino.