Janice R. Andrews
After first thinking they had only won £2.60, a British couple from Lancashire has been revealed as the lucky winners of an incredible £61 million EuroMillions jackpot.
In the draw held on January 30, Richard and Debbie Nuttall, both 54 years old, struck gold with a £61.7 million portion of the £123 million jackpot prize. Spain is where the other winning ticket was bought.
On Wednesday, the couple’s amazing good fortune was made public, as they related the discovery they experienced while on vacation in Spain commemorating their 30-year wedding anniversary.
They first discounted the chance of earning large sums of money; Mr. Nuttall recalled, “I shut my laptop, had breakfast, and then we set off for the day, driving around the island.” They didn’t realize their incredible win until they got another email asking them to verify their account balance.
When they started receiving emails from the National Lottery one after the other, their exhilaration gave way to worry about possible scams. They had signal problems while frantically trying to confirm their victory, but with the assistance of their daughter in the UK, they were able to confirm their good fortune.
Their happy celebration was cut short as they drove around the island in search of reception after failing to establish a reliable connection to the National Lottery. “I had to ask the lady on the phone to give me a few minutes to move my car, hoping the signal didn’t drop in the meantime,” recalled an ecstatic Mr. Nuttall after they had succeeded in getting through.
Their future plans include retiring early, buying new houses in Portugal and Lancashire, and making donations to BK’s Heroes, a charity that is dear to their hearts and raises money and awareness for kidney and brain cancer.
Eight-year EuroMillions player Richard Nuttall said he was shocked by their historic victory, saying, “I never dreamt of landing such a huge prize.”
Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at the National Lottery, expressed excitement at the news and highlighted the remarkable journey of the pair from thinking they had won £2.60 to discovering their £61 million jackpot. The couple’s triumph represents the first UK EuroMillions jackpot of 2024.
