The winner of a £105m EuroMillions jackpot has been revealed as a builder who only checked his ticket because his colleague was running late for a job.
Check Your Numbers. Select a Game See If Your Numbers Have Matched in the Last 180 Days!
Steve Thomson is the ninth-biggest winner in the history of the National Lottery, securing a life-changing sum of money for his young family from Selsey in West Sussex.
The 42-year-old and his wife, who have three school-age children, said they are still gob-smacked by their prize, which was only discovered while Mr Thomson waited to be picked up for work three days after the draw was made.
He said: 'I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines, the third one just jumped out and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win but didn't know what to do.
'I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour's door, went back to the van - I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack.'
National Lottery Projects Since The National Lottery began in 1994 over 625,000 good causes have been supported with over £42 billion raised by players of The National Lottery (figures sourced from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. – November 2020). Around £30 million raised weekly is an average based on April 2019 – March 2020. Easily integrate SuperStar lottery results into your website and application with our reliable lottery APIs. If you are using WordPress, you can simply install our WordPress lottery plugin. Our WordPress plugin is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese & Simplified Chinese.
Mr Thomson has already had a few cheeky spending requests from his kids, including a Tesla for his 10-year-old son and a somewhat more modest pink iPhone for his eight-year-old daughter.
His wife Lenka made an early request for a Christmas holiday - but at that stage she had missed a few zeroes off the winning total and thought the prize was £105,000.
More from Lottery
She said the money - secured by the numbers 08, 10, 15, 30 and 42, and the Lucky Stars digits 04 and 06 - would make their annual trips to Slovakia to visit her family a lot more affordable.
She added: 'Not only can I treat my family and see them more often, but we can also look to have other holidays, perhaps somewhere hot with a beach.'
Lenka was studying in the UK when the couple first met at a local leisure centre in Selsey, south of Chichester, and they have been together for 17 years.
They have two sons, aged 15 and 10, and their daughter is eight.
Mr Thomson said: 'To be able to give our children a bedroom each is a big thing, so we have been looking for a house.
'We will stay locally but somewhere with some space. I would like to build our own place eventually but we've been looking at houses online for now. We will also support our families by buying them houses.'
The draw on 19 November came on what was the 25th anniversary of the National Lottery.
It was the fourth time this year a EuroMillions ticket bought in the UK has scooped a nine-figure prize, with an unknown winner claiming £123m back in Juneand a couple from Northern Ireland winning £115m in January.
Other jackpot wins for UK players in 2019 include Ade Goodchild, who banked £71m in March, and an anonymous contestant who bagged £38m in April.
A UK ticket holder has won the EuroMillions jackpot, worth a staggering £123m.
It is a the third largest ever by a UK winner.
The winning main EuroMillions numbers on Tuesday night were: 25, 27, 39, 42 and 46.
The lucky star numbers were 11 and 12.
Players across the country are being urged to check their tickets to see if they can claim the massive prize.
Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at The National Lottery, said: 'This year has been truly incredible for UK EuroMillions players - with four jackpot winners so far on these shores.'
The win is just the latest in an incredible lucky streak for UK EuroMillions players, which began on 1 January when Patrick and Frances Connolly from Northern Ireland picked up £115m in the New Year's Day EuroMillions jackpot.
More from UK
Mrs Connolly said the only thing she had ever won before was a 'guess the number of sweets in the jar'.
In March, Ade Goodchild from Hereford scooped £71m. After revealing his win the 58-year-old said: 'I'm not one of these winners who is going to say this win won't change me.
Lottery Result Kerala
'It bloody well will, or at least I'll give it a damn good go! There'll be no more shift work for me.'
The 42-year-old and his wife, who have three school-age children, said they are still gob-smacked by their prize, which was only discovered while Mr Thomson waited to be picked up for work three days after the draw was made.
He said: 'I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines, the third one just jumped out and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win but didn't know what to do.
'I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour's door, went back to the van - I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack.'
National Lottery Projects Since The National Lottery began in 1994 over 625,000 good causes have been supported with over £42 billion raised by players of The National Lottery (figures sourced from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. – November 2020). Around £30 million raised weekly is an average based on April 2019 – March 2020. Easily integrate SuperStar lottery results into your website and application with our reliable lottery APIs. If you are using WordPress, you can simply install our WordPress lottery plugin. Our WordPress plugin is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese & Simplified Chinese.
Mr Thomson has already had a few cheeky spending requests from his kids, including a Tesla for his 10-year-old son and a somewhat more modest pink iPhone for his eight-year-old daughter.
His wife Lenka made an early request for a Christmas holiday - but at that stage she had missed a few zeroes off the winning total and thought the prize was £105,000.
More from Lottery
She said the money - secured by the numbers 08, 10, 15, 30 and 42, and the Lucky Stars digits 04 and 06 - would make their annual trips to Slovakia to visit her family a lot more affordable.
She added: 'Not only can I treat my family and see them more often, but we can also look to have other holidays, perhaps somewhere hot with a beach.'
Lenka was studying in the UK when the couple first met at a local leisure centre in Selsey, south of Chichester, and they have been together for 17 years.
They have two sons, aged 15 and 10, and their daughter is eight.
Mr Thomson said: 'To be able to give our children a bedroom each is a big thing, so we have been looking for a house.
'We will stay locally but somewhere with some space. I would like to build our own place eventually but we've been looking at houses online for now. We will also support our families by buying them houses.'
The draw on 19 November came on what was the 25th anniversary of the National Lottery.
It was the fourth time this year a EuroMillions ticket bought in the UK has scooped a nine-figure prize, with an unknown winner claiming £123m back in Juneand a couple from Northern Ireland winning £115m in January.
Other jackpot wins for UK players in 2019 include Ade Goodchild, who banked £71m in March, and an anonymous contestant who bagged £38m in April.
A UK ticket holder has won the EuroMillions jackpot, worth a staggering £123m.
It is a the third largest ever by a UK winner.
The winning main EuroMillions numbers on Tuesday night were: 25, 27, 39, 42 and 46.
The lucky star numbers were 11 and 12.
Players across the country are being urged to check their tickets to see if they can claim the massive prize.
Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at The National Lottery, said: 'This year has been truly incredible for UK EuroMillions players - with four jackpot winners so far on these shores.'
The win is just the latest in an incredible lucky streak for UK EuroMillions players, which began on 1 January when Patrick and Frances Connolly from Northern Ireland picked up £115m in the New Year's Day EuroMillions jackpot.
More from UK
Mrs Connolly said the only thing she had ever won before was a 'guess the number of sweets in the jar'.
In March, Ade Goodchild from Hereford scooped £71m. After revealing his win the 58-year-old said: 'I'm not one of these winners who is going to say this win won't change me.
Lottery Result Kerala
'It bloody well will, or at least I'll give it a damn good go! There'll be no more shift work for me.'
Sky Star Lottery Result Singapore Pools
And in April an anonymous ticket holder picked up £35.2m.
Sky Star Lottery Results
However, money has not always bought happiness for all UK EuroMillions winners. In April this year the UK's biggest winners, Colin and Christine Weir, announced they were to divorce.
The couple won £161m in 2011.
State Lottery Results
Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148m in August 2012. They separated a year later.