Lucky Brit couple win £61m Euromillions jackpot while on 30th anniversary holiday in Canary Islands
21 February 2024, 13:36 | Updated: 21 February 2024, 14:42
A lucky British couple have won a £61million Euromillions jackpot while on holiday in the Canary Islands.
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Richard and Debbie Nuttall, both 54, from Lancashire, were named as the winners of a EuroMillions jackpot on Wednesday.
The lucky couple won a £61,708,231 share of the £123 million jackpot prize.
They said the win, which happened while they were on holiday in Fuerteventura celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, felt "surreal".
When they first received the email, they thought it may be a scam so asked their daughter to check it in the UK.
The pair are now richer than artists including Dua Lipa and Stormzy and are 29th on The National Lottery Rich List.
Their winning numbers were 10, 27, 5, 30 and 19, with lucky star numbers five and six.
Speaking at Mitton Hall Hotel in Clitheroe, Mr Nuttall said: "'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 your ticket'."
He said he opened the email to find what he thought was a £2.60 win in his account.
His wife's reaction was: "Woo hoo, we can get a bacon butty with that."
But it soon hit that a much bigger win was waiting for him after he had a second email asking for him to check his account again.
"I looked and it said 'you've won £61,708,231', ring this number."
He continued: "We just couldn't make sense of it. My first thought was it must be a scam or there was some mix up. I know it sounds crazy but we couldn't think straight.
"I tried calling The National Lottery's number but my mobile phone signal was poor and the call just kept dropping. So 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."
The couple started driving around the island to find a stronger signal to call the National Lottery and confirm their win.
"We are dazed, it's surreal, it's a huge amount of money," Mr Nuttall said.
"You dream of winning the lottery but you never think it's going to be you, but it is."
The pair are both planning on quitting their jobs and Mr Nuttall's first purchase was a new set of golf clubs and a golf bag.
The family are also planning on upsizing their home, despite planning to get a bungalow now their children have left home.
Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at the National Lottery, said earlier this month: "This is absolutely incredible news and we're delighted that we've received a claim.
"This is the first UK EuroMillions jackpot win of 2024, following on from an incredible 2023 which saw six UK EuroMillions jackpots won, including a £111.7m win by an anonymous single ticket-holder in June.
"Our focus is now on supporting this latest lucky ticket-holder through the process and helping them start to enjoy their truly life-changing win."
