UK ticket-holder wins record 190 million euro lottery

August 11, 2012 | 08:26

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A ticket-holder in Britain has won a record 190 million euros (£149 million, $234 million) in the EuroMillions lottery, officials announced on Friday.

A Euro Millions lottery grid is shown in 2011. A ticket-holder in Britain has won a record 190 million euros (over $230 million) in the Euro Millions lottery. (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

The winner, whose identity is not yet known, beats the Scottish couple who became Europe's biggest ever lottery winners in July last year when they scooped 185 million euros.

But the euro conversion rate means the prize is worth less in pounds than the £161 million won by Scots Colin and Chris Weir.

"Lady Luck is clearly shining down on the UK once again with another big EuroMillions win this year -- the seventh jackpot to be won so far in 2012," said a spokesman for Britain's National Lottery.

"We have plenty of champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the lucky ticket-holder into the National Lottery millionaires' club."

The winning main EuroMillions numbers were 50, 21, 17, 48 and 11, and the Lucky Star numbers were 09 and 10. The mysterious winner had a one in 116,531,800 chance of holding the lucky numbers.

With the £148,656,000 prize, the winner could now afford to splash out on 4.5 tons of gold, 700 of Ferrari's top F12 Berlinetta sports cars, or their very own Airbus A350-800.

The EuroMillions lottery, launched in 2004, is now played by nine countries across western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

Five of the top ten jackpots in the history of EuroMillions have been British. An increasing number of British punters tend to take part when the jackpot is particularly large.

On Friday, 14 people across Europe selected six correct numbers, and will win more than 2,641,000 euros each.

AFP

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