A record total of 347 National Lottery players became millionaires this year, UK National Lottery operator Camelot Group has revealed. They all shared the amount of £862 million. In comparison, there were 341 lottery players to win a jackpot of over a million back in 2015.
The highest Lotto jackpot generated this year totalled £66 million. It fell on 9 January to a Scottish family and a player who preferred to remain anonymous. The biggest jackpot scooped by a single player amounted to £35 million this year. It was in April when the lucky ticket-holder turned into a millionaire overnight. Another notable winner was the Davies family syndicate. Members shared a £61-million jackpot in July.
September was the luckiest month this year as a total of 53 players across all Camelot Group lottery brands won over a million in prize money.
Drivers dethroned builders as the luckiest profession. Taxi and lorry drivers were the most frequent £1-million-plus lottery winners over the past twelve months. Manufacturers and sales workers shared a third position, teachers occupied the fourth position.
The National Lottery contributed more than £36 billion to good causes this year, as Camelot reported yesterday.
The record number of wins came in the wake of changes in both the Lotto and EuroMillions brands that were deemed quite controversial by industry insiders and were certainly not welcomed by players.
Last October, the number of Lotto balls increased from 49 to 59, which resulted in the chance of winning a jackpot drop from 1 in 14 million to 1 in 45 million. A new Millionaire Raffle was introduced as part of the changes, one that guaranteed that there would be at least one millionaire per single lottery draw.
In September, certain adjustments were also made to EuroMillions. A £0.50 increase per line was implemented to reach £2.50 per line. A new Lucky Star number was added that significantly lowered players’ chances to claim the jackpot to 1 in 140 million from 1 in 117 million prior to the changes.
Andy Carter, Senior National Lottery winners’ adviser, confirmed that it has been a record-breaking year for both the UK National Lottery brands and for players, as well, with more millionaires posing with their gigantic checks than anytime before.
- Author
Daniel Williams
