Largest lottery jackpot ever won in Britain

A single lottery ticket purchased in Great Britain won Friday's £84.4 million (US$122.7 million) Euro Millions jackpot.

It is the highest lottery prize ever won in Great Britain.

The winning Euro Millions numbers were 1, 17, 31, 43, and 47 with the Lucky Star numbers 2 and 3.

The win comes four months after Nigel Page and his partner Justine Laycock won £56 million to become Britain's biggest lottery winners at the time. The couple, who live near Cirencester, won the rollover prize in February, sharing the overall jackpot of £113 million with another ticket bought in Spain.

That jackpot surpassed the £91 million paid out in November last year, which was shared between two British tickets — one held by Les Scadding and his wife Samantha, from south Wales, and the other by a syndicate from Liverpool.

In the last year six British ticket holders have won a total of more than £237 million between them in the Euro Millions draw.

A Camelot spokesman said: "This is absolutely fantastic news — and the biggest ever lottery win in the UK.

"We're delighted to have yet another massive British win, following hot on the heels of Nigel Page's amazing £56 million Euro Millions win in February 2010.

"Subject to a claim being received and validated, the prize could be paid out when the banks open on Monday.

"The winner can then decide whether or not to go public and share their news."

In May last year, a Spanish player in Euro Millions won £110 million — the record for Euro Millions. A spokesman said: "The list of UK multi-million pound jackpot owners just keeps growing and this is the seventh win over £24 million in the last year.

"We've got plenty of champagne on ice for the lucky winner and look forward to them coming forward to claim their prize."

A single British winner of the £86 million total Euro Millions pot would have ranked 760th on The Sunday Times Rich List, ahead of Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page (£75 million) and Robert Plant (£80 million).

Top 10 lottery winners from Britain

1. Friday's ticket holder, who won £84.4 million (US$122.7 million).

2. Nigel Page, 43, and his partner, Justine Laycock, 41, who live near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, scooped a prize of £56 million.

The pair shared the overall Euro Millions jackpot of £113 million with one other ticket which was bought in Spain.

3. Les and Sam Scadding from Newport, south Wales, and a syndicate of seven Liverpudlian call center workers shared £91 million in November last year.

Scadding, who said he was lucky to be alive after beating cancer, was £68 overdrawn on the day he bought his ticket. The unemployed mechanic had been out of work since the previous Christmas.

Meanwhile, the Liverpool syndicate — dubbed the ''Magnificent Seven'' — each banked £6.5 million.

The group, employed by Hewlett Packard to carry out IT work at a BT office, only started playing the lottery together four months before their win.

4. In March a ticket holder scooped a Euro Millions jackpot of £39.7 million but opted for no publicity.

5. Lottery officials had to appeal for Glaswegian Angela Kelly to come forward after she scooped more than £35 million.

The Post Office worker had left her winning Euro Millions ticket in her handbag for three days before checking the numbers.

6. Someone scooped £26.5 million in August 2007 but the winner opted to avoid publicity.

7. A family of builders — the Sturts, from Dorking in Surrey — banked £26.1 million in January.

Taxi driver George Sturt, 75, believed the win was a gift from his late wife who died from breast cancer just six months before their windfall.

He vowed the Sturt family would not give up their jobs following their luck.

8. Brian Caswell, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, won just short of £25 million last June.

The 74-year-old, a retired export manager, insisted he would not let the money change his life but said he would buy a flash car and go to Rio.

The pensioner, who scooped half the jackpot on the Euro Millions draw, said he and wife Joan, 72, would not move far from their modest home.

9. In 1995, double glazing businessman Mark Gardiner popped the champagne corks after sharing a record £22.5 million jackpot with business partner Paul Maddison.

But before the glasses were filled, Gardiner's estranged wife was reportedly demanding half his share of the cash.

The two friends, from Hastings in East Sussex, spent more than £20 a week on National Lottery tickets, picking numbers at random in their office.

They only discovered their luck when Gardiner went to the local bowling green to play a match and realized he had not checked the week's numbers.

10. Camelot had to launch an appeal for cancer patient Iris Jeffrey, 58, to come forward and collect her check for £20.1 million in 2004.

Just months after being diagnosed with the illness, the Belfast housewife hit the jackpot.

Her win went unclaimed for three weeks until the mother of two spotted the appeal on the news and dug out her ticket.

She immediately pledged to splash out on family and friends, with a new washing machine her only luxury.