21 things you probably didn’t know about The National Lottery
The National Lottery is 21 years old, so here are 21 facts, stats and oddities from 21 years of making millionaires and raising money for life changing projects across the UK.
1. David and Kathleen Long (pictured above) have won £1 million on EuroMillions TWICE. Once in 2013 and again in 2015.
2. In an average postcode 144 projects have received National Lottery funding (which adds up to over 450,000 grants across the UK).
3. We have an expert team of Winners' Advisors who travel the country paying out prizes over £50,000. So be ready for that knock at the door.
4. On an average week our call centre staff will confirm to SIX people that they have won a prize of £1 million or more.
5. The most popular destination for National Lottery millionaires is the good old US of A.
6. The smallest National Lottery grant ever given was for £50 to fix a trumpet. The biggest was £2.2 billion to stage the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
7. The most popular post win drink for our National Lottery millionaires? Champagne? No – it's an old-fashioned cup of tea.
8. We give our big winners the option of receiving financial advice from Coutts & Co – the same bank used by The Royal Family.
9. One of our National Lottery winners bought their neighbour's house and turned it in to a pub.
10. The biggest-ever National Lottery win was £161 million on EuroMillions – won by Colin and Chris Weir.
11. In an average week our players raise a whopping £34 million for National Lottery projects the length and breadth of the UK.
12. There have been a staggering 4,000 millionaires created since the first draw in 1994. And a bumper 57 millionaires in October 2015 alone.
13. Your support has helped 58,500 Second World War veterans return to where they served to pay their respects.
14. One millionaire bought his dream car – a Robin Reliant – in Champagne Gold of course.
15. Lottery–funded films like The Iron Lady and Gosford Park, Billy Elliott, The Last King of Scotland and The King's Speech have won a total of 31 BAFTAs and 14 Oscars to date.
16. 3,270 children of National Lottery millionaires are already, or will be when they grow up, millionaires as a result of their parents' win.
17. National Lottery funding has supported more than 4,500 elite athletes, helping them to win 633 Olympic and Paralympic medals since 1997.
18. More than 12 per cent of winner have made someone else a millionaire.
19. National Lottery funding has been used to restore more than 600 parks and preserve more than 72,000 hectares of woodland (that's the same size as 100,000 football pitches).
20. More than 36,000 players have won a prize of £50,000 or more.
21. Volunteers have given the equivalent of over 17,000 years to lottery funded projects – that's over 150 million hours of their time.
The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.
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