A UK ticket-holder has come forward to claim a “life changing” £111,709,000 in the EuroMillions draw. They matched all five main numbers – 11, 12, 15, 38, 49 – as well as the Lucky Stars – 10 and 12 – in Friday’s draw.
Record-breaking win
The massive jackpot win means they have banked the equal 14th biggest prize ever won in the UK, National Lottery operator Allwyn said. It is also the 21st prize of £100 million or more which has been won in this country on the National Lottery.
Andy Carter, Allwyn’s senior winners’ adviser, said: “Huge congratulations to our latest massive winner. We have plenty of experience in supporting winners of these colossal jackpots and will be on hand as they start on their life-changing journey.”
Fourth UK winner this year
The £111 million winner is the fourth UK player to bank a EuroMillions jackpot this year. In March, a single player took home £181 million – the third-largest in UK National Lottery history – and two UK-based winners shared a £125 million jackpot with a French player in April.
The record for the largest EuroMillions prize for a UK player stands at £195.7 million. This was won in July 2022 by a ticket holder who remains anonymous.
Previous winner’s generosity
Earlier this month, a National Lottery winner who gave away half of her £115 million winnings said it was human nature to help others. Frances Connolly has set up a charitable trust to support good causes since winning the enormous EuroMillions jackpot with husband Paddy in 2019.
In honour of her 60th birthday, seven athletes who appreciated her support for young sporting talent will undertake a series of gruelling challenges to raise money for the couple’s PFC Trust, which funds good causes in the North East of England. Frances, who was a social worker and teacher, helped others from a young age while she was growing up in Northern Ireland, well before the life-changing lottery win.
Her father was a fan of country and western music, with Dolly Parton a favourite. Frances described the singer, who died last month aged 80, as an “inspiration” for her philanthropy. After Parton’s death, it was said she could have been a billionaire had she not given so much of her wealth away to causes such as child literacy. Frances and Paddy estimate they have given away half of their lottery winnings over the years.
Frances, a grandmother who has three daughters, told the PA news agency: “It depends on what you want in life. If your ambition is to be the richest person in the world and be influencing presidents, then you need to keep all your money, or you need to keep a lot of your money.
“But I don’t know anybody who doesn’t share something. I think it’s in mankind to share when you get to a level where you’ve got enough.
“‘Enough’ is a different level for everybody. Maybe if we had been younger I’d have kept more, maybe you’d be a bit more nervous about how much you could give away, but unless I intended to live forever – I was 50-whatever when I won it – so even being generous, I was well over half-way through. So as long as the kids are sorted and they had enough to live comfortable, nice lives, I didn’t see the point.”
Paddy continues to run plastics businesses and the couple enjoy good holidays and have a large house on Teesside, but they remain aware of value for money, buying a second hand Cartier watch or a used Aston Martin. She said: “We have a lovely life. I always tell people, we have the same life, we just live it bigger. You know, we haven’t particularly changed, if you talk to my friends.”
