Sunday, November 8, 2009
Two people have come forward to claim a share of the jackpot total of £91,141,671 (US$151,435,849.52) that was previously unclaimed from the EuroMillions lottery draw held on Friday, a lottery draw that is held in Europe across eight countries every Friday night.
The two people have yet to have been identified because they have not yet been given their money, as The National Lottery said. Camelot, who are the group who operate the lottery service said that lottery winners are given the option to remain anonymous if the winners wish to do so. The claims are also yet to be validated. As well as this, the banks in the country do not open until Monday. With the total of £45,570,835.50 (US$75,717,924.76) each, the two winners will break the record for the highest lottery jackpot win in the United Kingdom ever, and could each earn £2 million per year in interest alone.
If the winners are individuals rather than syndicates, they will also be the first-ever National Lottery winners to go into “The Sunday Times Rich List”, which is an annual compilation of the richest people in the United Kingdom that is published in the British broadsheet newspaper, The Sunday Times. Speaking to Sky News, compiler Philip Beresford stated: “It’s extraordinary that in the years we’ve had the lottery we haven’t had anyone at this level. If they’ve got any sense they’ll keep very, very quiet about it or go and live in Monaco, where they’ll just be one of 1,000-odd millionaires.” Beresford also spoke of how the winners should handle the situation of losing their jobs, if they wanted to do that. “You’ve got to plan it very carefully and do it over the months. Get yourself sacked, that would be the best way,” he said.
At present, further information cannot be released. A spokesperson for Camelot has said: “In our experience of previous EuroMillions winners it seems a greater number of them have been syndicates…but right now we can’t say whether these are groups or individuals.”