Lucky holiday Brits hit the jackpot

A Lancashire couple had an unforgettable holiday experience while celebrating their wedding anniversary in the Canary Islands.

On Wednesday, February 21, it was revealed that Richard and Debbie Nuttall, a couple from Colne in Lancashire, have won a £61,708,231 fortune in the EuroMillions jackpot while holidaying in Fuerteventura, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. The lucky draw took place on January 30.

A series of unexpected emails

‘It was the second day of our holiday and I had got up early to finish off a bit of work. I noticed the email from The National Lottery stating that there was exciting news about our ticket’, Richard recounted to Mail Online.

Initially, they believed they had won a mere £2.60 and joked that it was just enough to buy a bacon butty. However, a follow-up email prompted them to recheck their account.

Despite believing it to be a duplicate email, Richard checked again, only to be flabbergasted to discover that the win was actually over €61 million.

Understanding the magnitude of their win was challenging. ‘To be honest we couldn’t make sense of it. My first thought was it must be a scam or there was some mix-up.’

An attempt was made to contact The National Lottery through their helpline. Unfortunately, due to a weak mobile phone signal, the call failed to connect on numerous occasions.

Richard ended up contacting relatives back home in the UK: ‘I WhatsApped the family chat group asking for one of our daughters to call us urgently. My youngest came back quickly and we asked her to log into our National Lottery account from the UK and double-check.’

‘She put in my details and then just kept repeating “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!” It must be real, this was the official National Lottery website we were all looking at.’

Celebrations and plans

The Nuttalls’ win was part of a £123,416,462 jackpot, split with another ticket-holder in Spain. The winning numbers were 05, 10, 19, 27, and 30, with Lucky Stars 05 and 06.

Despite attempting to celebrate with a dinner, the gravity of their win left them without an appetite. After verifying their win with the National Lottery, they planned a prompt return to the UK, eager to contemplate their future with their newfound wealth.