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05 October 2017

Andy Carter, The National Lottery’s Senior Winners’ Adviser, said: “This is one of the biggest draws we’ve ever seen. Make sure you get your ticket well before the draw closes, either online or at a retailer.

“The extraordinary sum would be life-changing for the winner or winners and we have plenty of champagne on ice ready to celebrate. It would enable them to transform their life, as well as the lives of their friends and family, and we are poised to support them from the moment they claim.

“EuroMillions players help raise the £30M that The National Lottery gives to Good Causes each and every week. This supports projects big and small across the country, including funding everything from local community projects to the nation’s amazing Olympic and Paralympic athletes.”

Maximum Jackpot

  • The EuroMillions jackpot is now at its maximum of 190 Million Euros. Once it reaches this level and assuming it isn’t won, it will stay at 190 Million Euros for a further four draws until it has to be won in the fifth draw.
  • In the ‘must be won’ draw, if no ticket matches all five main numbers and two Lucky Star numbers, the entire jackpot prize will roll down into the prize tier where there is at least one winner – likely to be five main numbers and one Lucky Star. In the past this has created many multi-millionaires.
  • Once the jackpot reaches 190 Million Euros, players matching the five main numbers and one Lucky Star can also expect bigger prizes. This is because any money that would have gone into boosting the jackpot, will then be shared among players in the next prize tier with winners – most likely players matching five main numbers plus one Lucky Star.
  • The jackpot is at its maximum in Euros but can still fluctuate in Pounds due to the exchange rate. Therefore the current jackpot estimate for the draw on Friday 6 October is an estimated £168M.

Biggest Wins

  • The biggest EuroMillions winner in the UK is also the biggest lottery winner ever made in Europe. Colin and Chris Weir from Largs won £161M in July 2011.
  • In all, there have been five EuroMillions jackpots of over £100M won by UK ticket-holders.
  • A record nine UK players won a EuroMillions jackpot in 2015. So far in 2017, there have been five UK jackpot winners.
  • The biggest UK winner in 2017 was a ticket-holder who banked £87M in June and chose to remain anonymous. February proved to be lucky with two huge EuroMillions prizes being won by Brits in two consecutive draws: on 14 February an anonymous UK player won £19.9M, and in the following draw Bev Doran from Shipley bagged £14.5M. On 28 July a single ticket-holder won £51.7M and on 25 August a player claimed £15.7M – both remained anonymous.
  • In all, 91 UK ticket-holders have won the EuroMillions jackpot or a share of the jackpot prize. This places the UK second only to France, in terms of jackpot success.
  • Every week, EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker guarantees to create four millionaires – two on Tuesday and two on Friday. For every EuroMillions line played, UK players automatically receive a EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker code printed on their ticket.

The Estimated Jackpot

  • According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2017, if one winner scooped the entire £168M jackpot they would be ranked the joint 671st richest person in the UK.
  • It is a fortune which could fund a rock and roll lifestyle to match Eric Clapton (£170M), Sir Rod Stewart (£170M) or Sir Tom Jones (£160M). It would also trump modern boy band bank balances, with Robbie Williams worth (£150M), Gary Barlow (£75M) and the combined wealth of the four members of One Direction (Niall, Liam, Harry and Louis are worth £40M each).
  • A winner would be worth more than chef Jamie Oliver (£150M), F1 driver Lewis Hamilton (£131M) and singer Adele (£125M).
  • They would also be richer than a trio of young wizards - the three stars of the Harry Potter films Daniel Radcliffe (£78M), Emma Watson (£39M) and Rupert Grint (£28M) – (£145M).
  • If you were paid £168M in £50 notes and laid them end-to-end they would stretch 524km. That would take you from London almost all the way to Edinburgh (535km).

Winners

  • Across all National Lottery games in the UK, including EuroMillions, over 4,600 individual millionaires have been made. Across all games The National Lottery creates over 8M winners every week. In all more than £63 billion has been paid out in prizes.
  • Every EuroMillions ticket sold in the UK helps communities across the country – players raise, on average, over £30M for National Lottery-funded projects every week. This has funded more than 510,000 individual awards, an average of over 170 grants in every neighbourhood. For more information on National Lottery funding, please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.
  • There have been over 1,000 EuroMillions draws – the draw on Tuesday 3 October was number 1,047.
  • EuroMillions was launched on 13 February 2004, as a joint venture between Camelot, La Française des Jeux of France and Loterías y Apuestas del Estado of Spain. The original concept for a European lottery was first developed by Camelot in late 1999.
  • There are now nine European countries participating – the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland.

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For further information, please contact
Camelot Press Office: 0207 632 5711

Notes to Editors:

  • Camelot UK Lotteries Limited is the licensed operator of The National Lottery® and is committed to raising money for National Lottery Good Causes designated by Parliament. Camelot is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.
  • Each week, Camelot generates over, on average, £30 million for National Lottery-funded projects – in total £37 billion has now been raised and more than 510,000 individual grants have been made across the UK, the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th Century. The National Lottery has so far given away over £63 billion in prizes and created more than 4,600 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.
  • For further information on Camelot, The National Lottery and its games, please visit: www.camelotgroup.co.uk and www.national-lottery.co.uk
  • Players of all National Lottery games must be aged 16 or over.