Record-breaking lottery jackpot beats £200million for first time
Friday will see the biggest prize ever offered to UK players as a £201million EuroMillions jackpot is up for grabs and if one UK player takes home the entire sum, they will set a new record and become Britain's biggest ever National Lottery winner.
Ot is the first time the jackpot has ever reached the £200million landmark. A single UK winner on Friday night would storm to the top of the National Lottery Rich List. They would knock last year’s (19 July 2022) record-breaking £195.7M anonymous ticket-holder off the top spot, and push Joe and Jess Thwaite’s £184.2M win down the list (10 May 2022), as well as an anonymous £171M win (23 Sept 2022). It would be the first ever £200M plus win, but the 19th win of over £100M in the UK since EuroMillions began in 2004.
There have already been six EuroMillions jackpots won in the UK in 2023, banking these players a total of £298M. A seventh win this Friday would take jackpot winnings to almost £500M and would propel a single winner into the world of the rich and famous.
Their fortune would rival music, film and sporting royalty. According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2023, they would be worth more than singer Adele (£156M) and golfer Rory McIlroy (£200M). In fact, they would be richer than the combined wealth of the wizarding world of Harry Potter trio Daniel Radcliffe (£87M), Emma Watson (£67M) and Rupert Grint (£39M). According to Celebrity Net Worth, the winner would even be worth three times more than the king of Christmas - Michael Bublé (£65M).
Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery, said: “This jackpot has finally cracked the £200M mark - after getting so close last year. It is jumbo sized and would immediately propel a single winner into a life of luxury. Being able to treat family and friends is top of many winners’ wish lists and with this you could make their dreams come true as well as your own. Imagine your biggest struggle being how to get all of the gifts under the tree this Christmas - unbelievable!
“My team and I have our fingers crossed for all UK players and are on standby with champagne ready to support our biggest ever winner as they start their life-changing journey. It’s going to be busy so make sure you grab your ticket early whether you’re out Christmas shopping, sitting on your laptop trying to escape it all, or relaxing in the bath playing on the app.”
Players are urged to get their tickets before 7.30pm this Friday to be in with a chance of winning. The EuroMillions jackpot is capped once it reaches 240M Euros. Friday's draw is expected to be close to the cap.
Once it reaches the cap and assuming it continues not to be won, it will stay at 240M 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 Stars, 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. This means we could see many multi-millionaires created.
While the jackpot is at its maximum of €240M Euros, players matching 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 be shared among players in the next prize tier with winners – most likely players matching five main numbers plus one Lucky Star.
Thanks to National Lottery players, £30M is generated every week for National Lottery-funded projects. This money helps fund projects across the nation, with over 670,000 grants - supporting projects both big and small - having been made across the UK to date.