Wigan man duped pal into thinking he'd won jackpot on scratch card

Gareth Leyland, known to friends as Gaz, was fooled into thinking he had won £250,000 by fellow groundworker Si Wynne, who captured the entire hilarious incident on camera.

Other news: Doctors amazed by brave young Wiganer Archie's hospital battleThe Abram man was so convinced of his fortune that he even called his girlfriend to tell her the good news, before a shop worker breaks the bad news that the scratch card isn’t real.

Si, from Hindley, was inspired to pull the prank after his tattoo artist showed him a pile of the cards.

“I was going to give one to my mum for her birthday, but thought it was too tight,” Si told the Post.

“I thought Gaz would fall for it straight away. I went into the shop, and said I was off to buy some scratch cards. I had to buy two real ones, then swapped one of them with a fake one.”

After returning to their work van, Si began to covertly film on his phone while Gareth began scratching off the card.

Si said: “He started getting excited, I didn’t think he’d react like that.

“I thought he’d know it was fake. It was too good not to keep filming.”

In the video, Gareth can be seen bursting into celebration over his apparent jackpot, before running back into the store to tell staff, who were also unaware that it was a prank.

He then steps outside to call his girlfriend and tell her that they’ve won a life-changing pile of cash. He even offers to split the money with Si, as he had “bought” the card in the first place.

“I did feel a bit bad at that point,” Si said. “But she (Gareth’s girlfriend) didn’t believe him at first.”

Similar stunts in the past have backfired spectacularly, with some prank victims calling their bosses to quit their jobs, with dreams of running off into the sunset with their new found wealth.

But Si said: “If it had got to that point, I would have told him it was fake. I wouldn’t have risked that.”

The video has racked up more than 500,000 views since it was uploaded earlier this week.

Si said: “For it to take off like it did, is mad. Gaz went to McDonald’s the other day and someone recognised him!”