One lucky lottery player in the UK has scooped the nation’s biggest ever lottery win, by landing the £170million jackpot in Tuesday night’s record EuroMillions draw.
The jackpot had not been won since July, hitting the maximum £170m (€190m) and then rolling over another four times before Tuesday’s win by a UK player.
This run of 18 rollover is only the fourth time in EuroMillions history that the game’s jackpot cap was reached, and the rules state that there had to be a jackpot winner on Tuesday, regardless of whether anyone matched the maximum five numbers and two lucky stars.
As it happened, finally one ticket did match all five balls from the main draw – 7, 10, 15, 44 and 49 – as well as both of the lucky stars – 3 and 12.
Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at The National Lottery, said: “One incredibly lucky ticket-holder has scooped tonight’s enormous £170m EuroMillions jackpot. They are now the UK’s biggest ever winner. Players all across the country are urged to check their tickets as soon as possible.
“It’s been a fantastic year for UK EuroMillions players with an amazing five jackpot wins. In June, one lucky ticket-holder, who chose to remain anonymous, became one of the UK’s biggest ever winners after scooping a £123m jackpot. As always, the team are on hand to support and help guide the new winner as they start their adventure with their life-changing win.”
Biggest UK Lottery Winners In History
The win for this UK lottery player breaks the UK record set by Colin and Chris Weir from Ayrshire by nearly £9m. The pair held the record for biggest UK lottery win, after collecting £161m in 2011.
At the time, the win catapulted them up to 516th on the Sunday Times Rich List, and if the new lottery-win record holder is just one person, they two will find themselves on that list, above the likes of Sir Tom Jones, who is worth £165m, and popstar Ed Sheeran, at £160m.
| Date | Lottery | Amount Won | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 8, 2019 | EuroMillions | £170,221,000 | To be confirmed |
| July 11, 2011 | EuroMillions | £161,653,000 | Colin and Chris Weir from Ayrshire |
| August 10, 2012 | EuroMillions | £148,656,000 | Adrian and Gillian Bayford |
| June 11, 2019 | EuroMillions | £123,458,008 | Anonymous player |
| April 24, 2018 | EuroMillions | £121,328,187 | Anonymous player |
| January 1, 2019 | EuroMillions | £114,969,775 | Frances and Patrick Connolly from Northern Ireland |
| October 8, 2010 | EuroMillions | £113,019,926 | Anonymous player |
| March 14, 2014 | EuroMillions | £107,932,603 | Neil Trotter from Coulsdon |
| October 7, 2011 | EuroMillions | £101,203,600 | Dave and Angela Dawes from Cambridgeshire |
| June 12, 2015 | EuroMillions | £93,388,944 | Anonymous player |
| May 14, 2010 | EuroMillions | £84,451,320 | Anonymous player |
It is only the fourth time that the maximum prize has been won since EuroMillions fixed its winnings cap in 2012. The Weirs stayed at the top of the UK lottery-win table for so long due to favourable exchange rates at that time between the Euro and Sterling.
The new record-holder will now have to come forward and claim their money. They will also have to decide whether to go public to declare their new multi-millionnaire status or remain anonymous, while the EuroMillions jackpot will revert to its minimum of €17m for the next draw.
How Does UK Lottery Record Compare To World?
Though a record lottery win in the UK, this EuroMillions jackpot win still pales in comparison to the world’s largest single-ticket lottery prize win; the $1.537bn Mega Millions US lottery jackpot, won last year by a lucky punter in South Carolina, who chose to remain anonymous.
At today’s exchange rate, that Mega Millions jackpot win was worth £1.259bn (€1.4bn). It bettered the previous record, set by US lottery game Powerball in August 2017, that $758.7m jackpot being won by Mavis L. Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Manuel Franco of West Allis, Wisconsin topped that win only this year, when collecting $768.4 on the Powerball in March.
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First published on: Gambling.com
