Lucky EuroMillions winner nets £151 million jackpot

Flying lottery balls
Flying lottery balls



One lucky person in Belgium scooped the EuroMillions jackpot last night, walking away with £151 million - the biggest prize so far this year, and one of the largest ever.

However, three UK ticket holders matched all five main draw numbers - 12, 37, 20, 24 and 05 - and one of the 04 and 11 Lucky Stars, winning them £110,667.70 each.

And two other Brits are set to take home £1 million on the Millionaire Maker raffle, with the winning codes JHBB23412 and THBN39089.

The huge jackpot meant that customers were warned that there could be a flood of people buying tickets.

"If you plan to buy a ticket for any of our games this week and you need to add funds to your account to play, we would recommend that you do this as early as possible in order to avoid disappointment," it said.

Last month, the cost of a ticket rose to £2.50, meaning that the size of the jackpot could be increased and the number of million-pound prizes doubled to two.

However, the odds of winning the jackpot were cut, with ticket buyers now having to correctly choose five numbers from 50, and two lucky stars.

The jackpot winner has so far chosen to remain anonymous, as several have before. We may never know, for example, which lucky person in Portugal walked away with €190 million in 2014, the second-biggest winner ever.

But the two biggest British winners went public with their win.

Back in 2012, Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Haverhill in Surrey, netted £148 million in a EuroMillions draw. However, things didn't go well for the couple, who split up 15 months later, and divided the money between them.

Adrian recently went back to the music business - his passion, he says - after opening a film and music memorabilia store in Cambridge called Black Barn Records.

Meanwhile ex-wife Gillian has a successful letting business, A&G Properties. She formerly ran a tearoom in Arbroath, but closed it suddenly in March, with the loss of 21 jobs. And she's been estranged from her family for months now, saying they became greedy after her win.

Another huge winning ticket was bought by Colin and Chris Weir, who won £161 million in 2011. They are said to have spent part of their fortune on a mansion and buying expensive cars for their friends.

Other big EuroMillions winners in the UK include builder Gareth Bull and his wife Catherine from Mansfield, who won £40 million in 2012. But they didn't go mad with the money, saying two years later that they still shopped at Aldi and Tesco.

And just last year, Richard and Angela Maxwell from Conningsby won a £53 million jackpot. Part of their winnings went to buy a new community minibus for the OAPs club where Angela helped out.






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