Skipton Man Reveals Winning Lotto Method after Landing £2.2 Million

A Lotto player from Skipton who scooped £2.2 million with his wife by playing online has revealed that he used a random number generator to pick his winning line. Peter and Claire Occardi matched all six main numbers drawn on Wednesday 16th September to pick up the life-changing prize and he is delighted he stuck to his method of selection.

“I’m a bit of a geek and I used a scientific calculator to generate random numbers. It’s an electronic means of picking the numbers out of a hat” – Peter, a self-employed engineer originally from Glasgow, explained, before admitting that it took him a little while to realise that they had landed a seven-figure fortune.

He recalled in the Express: “I checked my emails, as I do every morning, and noticed I had a message from the National Lottery asking me to check my account. We’d had a similar email last week and we had won £25, so initially I thought it would be another of the same so I didn’t really think much of it. On first glance at my phone I thought we’d won just over £2,000, but I looked again and realised there were too many digits.”

Peter has now set his sights on buying a plane, having just been granted a pilot’s licence this summer, while he has also found a new nickname for his wife inspired by the sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He said: “I’ve started calling her Rodney, which I don’t think she appreciates – ‘this time tomorrow, Rodney, we’ll be millionaires’.”

Claire does not intend to accompany Peter when he takes to the air, as she said in the Express and Star that, “keeping my feet on the ground is definitely where I prefer to be”, but, like her husband, she has no plans to quit work. Peter stated: “Claire really wants to go into property and business coaching and I’ve always wanted to set up my own manufacturing business, and now I can.”

The Lotto jackpot has been won in seven out of eight draws since the start of the month and another top prize of £2 million will be available in the next draw on Wednesday 30th September. You can buy tickets now from authorised retailers or play online just like Peter Occardi as you try to become the latest big winner!

UK EuroMillions Player Claims £22.4 Million Prize

The UK winner of a £22.4 million (€30.9 million) EuroMillions jackpot from Tuesday 8th September has claimed their fantastic eight-figure windfall. After contacting lottery officials, successful players arrange to meet an official Winners’ Advisor, who validates their claim before offering the ticket holder the option to announce their good news in public at a press conference, release details such as their job and location or simply stay anonymous.

No details have currently been revealed about last week’s winner, who has become the sixth UK player in 2015 to scoop the top prize in the popular pan-European lottery. They follow in the footsteps of Lincolnshire couple Richard and Angela Maxwell, who bagged £53.1 million (€73.5 million) in the draw on Tuesday 31st March, an anonymous ticket holder who won £28.5 million (€40.2 million) on Friday 14th August and an anonymous player who matched all five main numbers and two Lucky Stars on Friday 12th June to bank £93.3 million (€129.2 million).

The ticket holder is the 52nd UK jackpot winner in the history of EuroMillions, placing the nation in fourth on the list of participating countries. France tops the board with 78 wins, ahead of Spain on 74 and Portugal with 56 winners.

This evening’s EuroMillions draw will offer a £15 million (€21 million) jackpot after no one could claim the top prize in the draw on Friday 11th September. There will certainly be cause for one UK player to celebrate tonight, with a guaranteed £1 million prize being awarded to the ticket holder who matches the winning Millionaire Maker code.

EuroMillions tickets are on sale now online and from authorised retailers. Good luck!

EuroMillions Winners Claim £1 Million after Two-Month Delay

A couple who play EuroMillions online have admitted they did not know they had scooped £1 million for two months after ignoring an email from lottery officials. Ruth and Peter Doyle, from Lyneham in Wiltshire, won the Millionaire Maker prize on Tuesday 23rd June but were initially oblivious to their success.

Having received an email telling her she had won and to log on to her account, Ruth only checked her bank account rather than her National Lottery account and found that £25 had gone in. She did not look any further and the penny only dropped in late August when a lottery official rang to enquire why she had not collected her money.

“When I got the call telling me I’d won I thought it was a wind-up” said Ruth, who admitted it took a few days for the news to sink in. The couple finally decided to reveal all just in time for their eighth wedding anniversary and they were able to celebrate with a party at the venue where they got married. Ruth and David have no plans to stop working, but are looking forward to paying off their mortgage, looking after their family and going on holiday to Spain.

If Ruth and David had not played online, their story could have had a less fortunate ending as there would not have been anyone to remind them to check their account. Sadly, stories do keep cropping up of prizes going unclaimed as tickets bought in shops are lost or forgotten. Buying EuroMillions tickets online ensures that you get email alerts for winning tickets, provides an increased level of security and means you don’t even have to leave home to stroll down to the nearest authorised retailer.

The EuroMillions jackpot currently stands at £17 million (€24 million) ahead of the draw on Friday 4th September after nobody landed the top prize on Tuesday night. The non-cash prize for September’s Mega Friday draw has also been announced, with five lucky Millionaire Maker winners not only set to receive a seven-figure windfall but also travel around the world first class and visit three five-star hotels in different countries if they win big later this month.