Lottery makes 347 more millionaires
A RECORD number of National Lottery players became millionaires over the past year, operator Camelot said.
Some 347 players received cheques for £1 million or more in 2016, up from 341 in 2015, sharing £862m.
Lotto’s highest jackpot of £66m on January 9 was shared by two ticket-holders, David and Carol Martin, from Hawick in the Borders, and another who opted to remain anonymous.
In April a single anonymous ticket-holder scooped an entire £35m jackpot, while the largest winner this year was the Davies family syndicate from Monmouth, who shared a EuroMillions jackpot of £61m in July.
The wins follow changes to Lotto that came into effect in October 2015 which saw the number of balls increase from 49 to 59 and the chance of winning the jackpot decrease from one in 14 million to one in 45 million.
The changes introduced a new Millionaire Raffle, guarnumber anteeing at least one millionaire per draw.
Meanwhile, changes to EuroMillions in September saw a 50p increase per line to £2.50 and the introduction of a new Lucky Star number that lowered the chance of winning the jackpot from one in 117 million to one in 140 million.
Senior winners’ adviser Andy Carter said: “It has been a record-breaking 12 months with more millionaires celebrating than ever before.”
The total given to good causes increased to £36 billion.