Colin and Chris bought a mansion, founded a charity and divorced after winning more than £161million (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)
One lucky ticketholder won £177,000,000 when the EuroMillions numbers were drawn on Tuesday night – but it’s only the third biggest jackpot of all time in the UK.
The record was set and broken – and nearly broken again – in the space of just four months in 2022.
Last night’s draw knocks the lowest of that year’s big wins to the fourth place in a ranking of the highest sums of all time.
Although £177million doesn’t quite nab the top spot, it would be a truly lifechanging sum – if and when someone claims the prize.
But as some lottery winners have found, that change isn’t always good.
So who are the 10 reigning EuroMillions champions who’ve won the biggest ever UK lottery jackpots?
10. Frances and Patrick Connolly – £114,969,775
Originally from Northern Ireland, Patrick and Frances Connolly were the fourth biggest winners when they it the jackpot on New Year’s Day, 2019.
They splashed their cash on a lot of things – Jaguar, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo cars, and a County Durham Mansion with seven acres of land, and gifts worth £60million for their family and friends.
Frances and Patrick Connolly spent their winnings on friends, family, cars, property and charity (Picture: Liam McBurney/PA)
A grant-giving charity – PFC Trust – they founded funds community groups in Hartlepool, where they moved for work in 1990.
It’s become such a backbone of the charity sector, scammers masqueraded as the Connolly couple to offer cash to 50 people if they hit 10,000 subscribers on a bogus YouTube channel.
But the very first thing they bought with their winnings was a pair of M&S underwear
9. Anonymous – £121,328,187
The identity of the person who won this April 24, 2018 Superdraw jackpot has never been revealed after their chose to stay anonymous.
8. Anonymous – £122,555,350
This jackpot started as just £14million before rolling over all the way the all-time spot of the UK’s ninth biggest lottery prize on April 2, 2021.
The winner, however, has kept their identity a secret.
7. Anonymous – £123,458,008
Another anonymous winner bagged this Superdraw jackpot on June 11, 2019, after it rolled over from a previous draw.
6. Adrian and Gillian Bayford – £148,656,000
Gillian and Adrian Bayford, from Haverhill in Suffolk, have had turbulent – and separate – lives since hitting the jackpot (Picture: Beretta/Sims/REX/Shutterstock)
The life of a lottery winner isn’t all glitz and glam. Sometimes it’s a catastrophe – and Adrian and Gillian Bayford can attest to that.
Since winning in August 2012, the married couple are no longer married.
Gillian now has a conviction for threatening her ex-boyfriend, domestic abuse charity worker Gavin Innes, who she pushed and shouted at in 2017.
She then married convicted fraudster Brian Deans, before ditching him because he begged or more and more money after blowing the monthly allowance she gave him on cars, watches and trips with friends.
Adrian, meanwhile, turned to eating 50 Cornish pasties …read more
Source:: Metro
