UK Player Wins £3.6 Million Thanks to EuroMillions Jackpot Cap
Last Updated: Thursday 24th September 2020, 09:49
One player in the UK won a bumper second prize of £3.6 million in Tuesday’s EuroMillions draw. Thanks to the jackpot cap, the lucky ticket holder won a sum worth 15 times more than the average for the Match 5+1 tier.
Jackpot Rolls for the 19th Time
Going into the draw on Tuesday 24th September, the EuroMillions jackpot had gone a record 18 consecutive draws without being won. That led to the it climbing all the way from its starting value of €17 million (£15 million) to its maximum of €190 million.
More than 45 million players bought tickets for that draw, perhaps all of them expecting that the jackpot would be won after so long. Their expectations were not met, however, as once again not one of those tickets matched all five numbers and both Lucky Stars to win the top prize.
The jackpot still stands at €190 million for the next draw on Friday 27th September, as now it is at its cap, no more money can be added to it. The lack of a jackpot winner, however, is a blessing in disguise for other players, as the prize money rolls down to the second prize tier, which can mean players can become millionaires without even having to match all the winning numbers, as one lucky player from the UK found out on Tuesday.
No Jackpot But Big UK Winner
When the EuroMillions jackpot is at its cap, any money that would ordinarily go towards increasing it is instead used to boost the prize money in the tier below. That’s how one player from the UK won £3.6 million for matching five numbers plus one Lucky star, when the average prize amount for doing so is worth a fraction of that amount - around £240,000.
Two players in other countries - one in Belgium and one in Austria - also matched 5+1 and they each walked away with €5 million (see this Prizes page for an explanation of why there’s a discrepancy between UK and European prize amounts).
The size of this prize has broken another record: it is the biggest EuroMillions prize ever awarded for matching five numbers and one Lucky Star. Such records will continue to be broken until the jackpot is won; all eyes are now on Friday’s EuroMillions draw, but there’s a good chance that the second prize in that draw will be worth more than Saturday’s Lotto jackpot.
Lotto Must Be Won Draw
To continue what has already been an extraordinary week for UK lottery players, the Lotto draw on Wednesday 25th September will be a Must Be Won draw, after the jackpot has rolled over five consecutive times.
It is the third time in a row that the Lotto jackpot has rolled over to a Must Be Won draw, and like the rolldowns in EuroMillions, these special draws help to create more big winners than ever. If there is no jackpot winner in Wednesay’s Lotto draw, the entire jackpot amount will be split between the winners in all other cash prize tiers.
In Lotto Must Be Won draws, players can expect the prize for matching three numbers to increase from £30 to around £130, while the prize for matching five numbers will increase by approximately £200,000, from £1 million to £1.2 million.
With so much extra prize money at stake, there’s no better time to be playing Lotto and EuroMillions.
