Hyderabad, March 30 -- For four months, a life-changing secret lay unnoticed in 44-year-old Darren Burfitt's car. The greenkeeper at Langland Bay Golf Club had no idea that a small, crumpled lottery ticket tucked among his belongings held a 1 million pounds jackpot. It wasn't until his four-year-old son's innocent request for a snack that fate intervened.

One evening, as Mr. Burfitt's son asked for a packet of crisps, the father of two decided to get an unfinished bag from his car rather than open a new one. That simple decision set off a chain of events that would alter his life forever.

"I had a few tickets in the central console of my car-it is where I always keep them for safety, and I just hadn't got round to checking them," he adm...