The UK’s £76 Million EuroMillions Jackpot Winner Has Claimed Their Prize
The UK winner of the £76 million jackpot from the EuroMillions draw on Friday 2nd November has finally come forward to claim their prize, bringing weeks of speculation about the lucky ticket to an end.
It is the 12th-biggest jackpot ever won in the UK and one of the biggest of 2018, and it accumulated after a series of seven rollovers. The lucky ticket holder matched all of the numbers and both Lucky Stars in the November draw to win the eight-figure amount and it was announced soon after the draw that the winning ticket was bought in the UK.
Speculation had been mounting since then, however, as the winner failed to come forward to claim the prize. Two weeks after the draw, the National Lottery revealed that the ticket had been bought in the Boston and Skegness area and they launched a media campaign to draw attention to the unclaimed prize. When the winner still didn’t come forward, fears began to mount that they did not know about the win or had lost their all-important ticket.
Those fears have been put to rest, though, as the winner made contact with the National Lottery this week to make their claim, which will be verified before the prize money is paid out. No further details are known about the claimant(s) yet, and we will only learn more if they decide to go public. They have the right to claim the prize anonymously, so we may never find out who the lucky winner is.
Andy Carter, Senior Winners' Advisor at The National Lottery, said, “Wow, what a win for one lucky UK ticket-holder. This is the twelfth biggest winner ever in the UK and we very much look forward to toasting their win. Just imagine the Christmas this lucky ticket-holder is now able to look forward to.”
Despite the delay, the ticket holder still had plenty of time to make their claim, as all National Lottery winners in the UK have 180 days from the date of the draw to come forward. This means they had until the start of May 2019 to make their claim, so was not yet in any danger of losing out on the prize.
The win is the biggest in the UK since Fred and Lesley Higgins won £57 million in July. They almost met with disaster, however, as the shop assistant that verified their ticket initially tore it in two and threw it in the bin. The ticket was retrieved straight away and the prize was paid out after close verification by Camelot.
Earlier in the year another UK player anonymously claimed a EuroMillions jackpot worth £121 million after being the only player to match all seven numbers in the draw on Tuesday 24th April. That jackpot stood at such a high amount after being boosted to £114 million in a previous Superdraw. No one won the jackpot on that occasion so it rolled over once before being won by the lucky UK player.
The good news is that the EuroMillions jackpot is already back up to £77 million for tonight’s draw, and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is buy a ticket from any lottery retailer or choose your numbers online.
Published: Friday 14th December 2018Lottery News News Archive