EuroMillions winner scoops £121m jackpot – but winning ticket still unclaimed.
The lucky winner has bagged every penny of the £121.3 million jackpot, and will be the third biggest lottery winner in UK history.
With the numbers 20, 23, 28, 30 and 44, and the lucky stars 03 and 07, they will join a tiny handful of individuals to have taken home more than £100m in a Lotto draw.
Andy Carter, winners’ adviser for the National Lottery, has urged players to check their tickets in case they are sitting on a life-changing fortune.
“Rest assured, we have plenty of champagne on ice ready to help The National Lottery’s newest multi-millionaire celebrate,” he said. “What a night for UK Euromillions players.”
Whoever the winner is, their new-found fortune means they may now be able to consider investing in some of the UK’s most sought after properties, cars or luxury goods many times over.
If housing is what they’re interested in, pads in Kensington Palace Gardens, the country’s priciest street, average about £35m, while apartments at One Hyde Park are approximately £75m.
Designer dresses are an option for loose change: some of the outfits seen on the red carpet can cost £100,000, and Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was about £250,000.
Potential art collectors might be interested in purchasing the kind of iconic works that fetch double or triple million figures. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn sold for £57m, while one of Pablo Picasso’s most expensive paintings, Le Reve, went for about £113m in 2013.
Some ways to spend the money may be less popular: £120m was the projected cost of a royal yacht suggested by 50 Conservative MPs – to be funded by a Lotto type game.
The lucky winner may not want to drop their new found cash on luxury goods however.
Previous top-level lotto winners Colin and Chris Weir have opted to give much of their £161m fortune, won in 2011, to charitable and political causes, giving generously to the SNP and Scottish national heritage projects.
Their Weir charitable trust supports community groups and small charities across Scotland and gives out awards that average £3,500.
