I nearly lost my £51 million lottery win because of a silly decision – now I plan to splash the cash on a mega holiday
A WOMAN has shared how she nearly lost the lottery ticket that bagged her £51 MILLION.
She treated herself to the powerball ticket as an early birthday present, despite not being an avid lottery player.
But when she got into the car to drive home, she feared that she’d left the ticket in the shop.
When she eventually found it on her person, she stuck it in her car glove box with no idea that it was going to make her a multi-millionaire.
“I’m scared to breathe in case this isn’t real,” she says.
The lucky mum has chosen to remain anonymous in the wake of her colossal win.
She shared that she was only prompted to check the ticket stashed in her glove box after returning from her morning run and hearing of a mystery winner in her region of Brisbane, Aus.
“I put it in my glovebox, and I completely forgot about it until this morning,” she tells
“I’m in complete shock”.
Interestingly, she claims to have had a gut feeling at the start of this year that she was “going to win a major lottery prize”.
“I told my parents about it,” she recalls.
“They said, ‘don’t be crazy’, but I just had this strong feeling.
“I haven’t been playing Powerball, so I thought, ‘well, how am I going to win if I don’t buy a ticket?’
“I was shopping the other day, and it’s coming up to my birthday, so I thought ‘why not?’
“The funny thing is, I almost lost it!
“I had to pull over on the way home from the shops because I thought I had left it there.”
UK's biggest lottery winners
By Ethan Singh
- Anonymous winner – £195,707,000
A UK ticket-holder scooped the record EuroMillions jackpot of £195 million on July 19 2022 – the biggest National Lottery win of all time.
The holder, who remains anonymous to this day, amassed the fortune with just one lucky ticket.
- Joe and Jess Thwaite – £184,262,899.10
Britain’s previous EuroMillions record holders were Joe and Jess Thwaite.
The couple won a record-breaking £184million jackpot in May 2022 and shared hopes of a Hawaiian holiday and a new horse box for their children’s ponies.
Joe bought his winning ticket online on May 10, 2022, and the following morning received an email with good news.
As he learnt of the huge win, he was in disbelief and initially kept it for himself as he did not want to disturb his wife, who was sleeping.
Joe, a communications sales engineer, and Jess, who runs a hairdressing salon with her sister, have been married for 11 years and have two children.
- Colin and Chris Weir, £161,653,000
Colin and Christine Weir landed the colossal prize money in 2011 and were Europe’s second-biggest winners until someone in Italy won a jackpot worth £193m in 2019.
They splashed the cash at an astounding rate of £100,000 a week before tragedy struck.
But at the time of Colin’s death in December 2019 his share of the prize money had dwindled by around £40m.
He spent the millions living a life of luxury, forking out for sports cars, property and the football club he supported.
Colin and Christine divorced shortly before his death after being married for 38 years.
He left money for their children Carly and Jamie.
- Adrian and Gillian Brayford – £148,600,000
Adrian and Gillian won 190 million euros in a EuroMillions draw in August 2012, which came to just over £148 million.
But Adrian split from Gillian the following year because of the stress of the win.
The couple bought a Grade II listed estate in Cambridgeshire, complete with cinema and billiards room, but it was sold in 2021.
After divorcing in 2013, he failed to woo ex-sausage factory worker Marta Jarosz — but fell for stable girl Sam Burbidge.
She left him in 2017, taking 30 prize horses Adrian bought.
It might have worked out in the end for Adrian though as the former postman was seen smiling with ambulance worker Tracey Biles last year.
- Frances and Patrick Connolly – £114,969,775
Former social worker and teacher Frances set up two charitable foundations after she and her husband hit the jackpot.
They scooped almost £115 million on New Year’s Day 2019.
She estimates that she has already given away £60 million to charitable causes, as well as friends and family.
- Richard and Debbie Nuttall – £61,000,000
The couple from Colne, Lancashire, took home £61 million on January 30 2024.
Both 54, they were enjoying a holiday in Fuerteventura, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
But they then discovered the big EuroMillions win.
Richard revealed they originally thought they had won £2.60, but then received another email telling the pair to check their account.
Other eye-watering anonymous winners:
- 2019 – £123million
Another anonymous winner scooped up a prize of £123,458,008 in the June Superdraw rollover.
- 2021 – £122million
Following nine rollovers, one ticketholder bagged the £122,550,350 jackpot last April.
The successful participant chose to remain anonymous.
- 2018 – £121million
Another anonymous winner found their fortune during the Superdraw jackpot rollover in April 2018, securing £121,328,187.
When asked how she might enjoy £51 million ($100 million), she admitted that she might need a moment to fathom the enormity of her new bank balance.
“We don’t even know what’s next,” she tells.
“We’ve worked so hard our whole lives for everything we’ve had, and we really don’t live a lavish lifestyle.
“We’d like to do some travelling, maybe a family holiday somewhere.
“We’ve always wanted to go see New Zealand and Fiji.
“It’s so weird.
“I can’t even say it out loud right now!”
In the UK, the National Lottery makes an average of seven new millionaires every week.
Since the first draw was held in 1994, that totals more than 7,000 millionaires across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
A whopping 822 of those millionaires are from London.
But the biggest area of millionaire winners in the UK are from South East England, with an eye-watering 975 people winning seven figures in this region.