Life changing

STOP PRESS: 2016 sets new millionaire making record

The National Lottery has made a new millionaire nearly every day in 2016. The past 12 months have seen 347 players walk away with the ultimate jackpot of £1Million or more. The stunning year also saw the historic 500,000th National Lottery grant awarded in November.

More millionaires have been made by The National Lottery in 2016 than ever before. The 347 big winners, almost one every day, beat the previous record of 341 which was set only last year. The big winners shared an extraordinary £862Million between them and were part of the 953 players who won a National Lottery prize of £50,000 or more this year.

How to be lucky

There seems to be growing evidence that there may be something in the stars when it comes to being lucky in the lottery. Virgo (Aug 2 – Sept 23) was crowned the luckiest star sign in 2016 with more millionaires than any other. Amazingly the analytical and helpful star sign was also luckiest in 2014, and was third in 2015. In second place this year was last year’s winner the generous Aries, while passionate Scorpio was third.

The figures also revealed that it was drivers who have been luckiest profession this year. Cabbies and lorry drivers have bagged more £1Million plus prizes, beating last year’s winners, and the traditional luckiest profession, the builder, into second place. Manufacturing workers and people in sales were joint third with teachers fifth.

The record month this year was September when 53 millionaires were made across all National Lottery games, including GameStore online games and Scratchcards.

Big winners

Lotto had a stellar 2016 not only offering its highest ever jackpot but also creating its biggest ever winners. The £66Million jackpot on 9 January was shared by two ticket–holders – one of which were David and Carol Martin from Hawick who banked £33Million. In April a single ticket–holder scooped an entire £35Million jackpot but chose to remain anonymous. The largest winner this year was the Davies Family syndicate from Monmouth who shared a EuroMillions jackpot of £61Million in July.

Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor and the man who leads the team that pays out all major winners, said, "I knew it had been a busy year. It has been record breaking 12 months with more millionaires celebrating with a giant cheque than ever before. The National Lottery changes lives, not just of the winners but also for the projects who receive support. Thank you to everybody who bought a ticket or a scratchcard in 2016 as they have helped to win Olympic medals and support local communities."

You benefit too

As well as for winners, it was also a momentous year for giving to National Lottery good causes. The 500,000th National Lottery grant was presented to 'Ipswich 4 Family', a project helps people over 45 to make positive lifestyle changes. They were awarded nearly £10,000 by the Big Lottery Fund.

In all 17,500 grants were presented to both large and small projects across the country supporting everything from parks to scout huts and charities to community groups. National Lottery players helped propel TeamGB and ParalympicGB to its greatest ever medal haul in Rio. The £30 million raised each week by National Lottery players helped to push the total given to good causes across the country to a staggering £36 billion.

See the review of 2016 or meet this years biggest winners the Davies family.

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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