LOTTO CONFUSION
We thought we’d only won £2.60 on EuroMillions but when we checked again we’d scooped £61MILLION – it felt like a scam
The pair revealed how they are planning on splashing the cash
A LUCKY couple thought they'd only bagged £2.60 on the lottery - but soon discovered they had scooped the £61million jackpot.
Richard and Debbie Nuttall, both 54, from Colne, Lancashire, took home the life-changing sum in the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday, 30 January 2024.
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The couple were enjoying a holiday in Fuerteventura, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, when they discovered the big win.
Richard revealed they originally thought they had won £2.60, but then received another email telling the pair to check their account.
“I thought it was odd and there must be a glitch in the system to get a duplicate email but I logged in again to my National Lottery account to check," he explained.
"We were totally stunned, it said we had won over £61million," said the winner.
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Richard continued: “We just couldn’t make sense of it. My first thought was it must be a scam or there was some mix up."
He said poor phone signal meant the couple couldn't confirm the news with the National Lottery and he turned to his family for help.
Our lives are going to be so different. We have worked hard all our lives and we are now very much looking forward to taking life a bit easier
Richard Nuttall
"My youngest came back quickly and we asked her to log into our National Lottery account from the UK and double-check," explained Richard.
"She put in my details and then just kept repeating, ’Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!’ It must be real, this was the official National Lottery website we were all looking at.”
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When Richard and Debbie finally got through to the National Lottery, the employee told them: "So, I need to get this right… I can confirm you are the winners of the £61,708,321 EuroMillions jackpot prize.”
"By this time me and Debs are going mental, jumping up and down in our car seats, punching the air, thumping the dashboard, the car must have been rocking," said Richard.
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The winning numbers were 05, 10, 19, 27, 30 and the two Lucky Stars were 05 and 06.
Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery, said: “This is absolutely incredible news and we’re delighted that we’ve received a claim.
"This is the first UK EuroMillions jackpot win of 2024, following on from an incredible 2023 which saw six UK EuroMillions jackpots won, including a £111.7million win by an anonymous single ticket-holder in June.
“Our focus is now on supporting this latest lucky ticket-holder through the process and helping them start to enjoy their truly life-changing win.”
SPLASHING THE CASH
The lucky couple now plan to buy a new family home and go on a luxury holiday in Portugal.
Richard has already driven home a brand new BMW X5.
And Debbie has handed in her notice at her civil engineering job where she works as a Bidding & Estimating Support Assistant.
Meanwhile Richard, who runs his own accountancy business, has now informed the company he won't be working beyond the end of this tax year.
With more free time, Richard plans on hitting the golf course more often, and even wants a 'Golf Swing Room' in their new pad.
TOP 5 BIGGEST LOTTERY WINS IN THE WORLD
- £1.308 billion (Powerball) on January 13 2016 in the US, for which three winning tickets were sold, remains history’s biggest lottery prize
- £1.267 billion (Mega Million) a winner from South Carolina took their time to come forward to claim their prize in March 2019 not long before the April deadline
- £633.76 million (Powerball draw) from a winner from Wisconsin
- £625.76 million (Powerball) Mavis L. Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts claimed the jackpot in August 2017
- £575.53 million (Powerball) A lucky pair of winners scooped the jackpot in Iowa and New York in October 2018
Debbie on the other hand can now enjoy her dream garden and the extra space for a greenhouse.
The couple revealed they had been planning on downsizing just over a month ago.
"Now we are very much upsizing, with plenty of land for Debbie and the dog to enjoy," said Richard.
"Our lives are going to be so different. We have worked hard all our lives and we are now very much looking forward to taking life a bit easier.”
Richard had been playing EuroMillions for eight years, buying one Lucky Dip line each Tuesday and Friday.
The couple have now taken the 29th spot on The National Lottery Rich List.
And, they are the 39th UK winner to bank a prize of £50million or more on EuroMillions.
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HELPING OTHERS
The pair are also set on donating a large chunk of their winnings to charity.
They are ambassadors for BK'S HEROES, set up in their nephew’s (Ben King) memory after he died of a rare condition, Tubular Interstitial Nephritis and Uveitis, at age 27.
The charity which aims to raise awareness of brain cancer and kidney disease as well as raising funds for research.
Richard said: "This charity means so much to our family and we are all involved."
"Ben was such an inspiration to all of us. He was incredibly brave and positive throughout his treatment and it was his wish for this charity to be set up to do what it can to help lives in the future.”
HOW TO PLAY
Contestants need five main number plus two Lucky Stars to win the EuroMillions jackpot.
However, large sums are still up for grabs if you match five main numbers and one Lucky Star.
Even with no Lucky Stars, if you still draw five main numbers you can win a significant amount.
The guaranteed price in the UK Millionaire Maker, which you receive automatic entry into if you buy a EuroMillions ticket, is £1 million.
To play pick five numbers from 1 - 50 and two Lucky Stars from 1-12, or you can opt for randomly selected numbers.
You can choose to play on a Tuesday or a Friday, or both and the number of weeks you want to play.
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For £2.50 you can play up to seven lines of numbers and buy up to 10 pay slips at a time.
By playing any National Lottery game, including EuroMillions, players generate £30million each week for National Lottery-funded projects.
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