Britain’s record jackpot winner to walk away with $180 mn

LONDON - Britain’s biggest-ever lottery jackpot winner will be walking away with 113 million pounds (about $180 million), a media report said Saturday.

But it is not yet known if the winner is an individual or a syndicate - and whether they will want to reveal their identity or remain anonymous, Daily Mail reported.

It is by far the biggest ever lottery win in the country.

On Friday night, operator Camelot was waiting for the mystery holder of the winning ticket to come forward and claim their unimaginable riches.

The previous record for Britains biggest single lottery win was 84.4 million pounds - instantly becoming the 789th richest person in the country.

The EuroMillions lottery winner never identified themselves publicly, after becoming an overnight multi-millionaire in May this year.

Prior to that, Nigel Page and Justine Laycock, from Barnsley, Gloucestershire, held the record, scooping 56 million pounds in February.

After winning the jackpot, Page, 43, and Miss Laycock, 41, moved in to a new eco-friendly 4-million pound mansion - leaving their existing 400,000-pound home nearby to their cleaner.

Camelot confirmed that Friday nights win is the biggest lottery prize ever won by one ticket in Britain and said it was “looking forward to welcoming the lucky ticket-holder to the National Lottery millionaires club”.

The winner was the only one of tens of millions of players to tick all seven correct numbers - claiming the prize against odds of 76,275,360 to one.

The winning EuroMillions numbers were 9, 30, 35, 39, 46, with lucky stars 6 and 8.

The 113-million pound windfall will let the winner live the life of a rock star.

In fact, the sum eclipses the wealth of Bee Gees Barry and Robin Gibb, who have 110 million pounds, Phil Collins with his 108 million pounds, the 105 million pounds of Rod Stewart, and David Bowies 100 million pounds.

Earlier, a technical problem which affected online ticket sales in Britain meant the winner might have been spared from having to share the jackpot.

Connection problems between Camelots system and some banks meant sales could not go through between 6.45 p.m. and 7.15 p.m., a Camelot spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said Camelot did not know how many people had been affected by the glitch and added the matter had been “completely out of our hands”.

Friday nights winners will join 2,400 others who have become overnight millionaires through the lottery.

Tickets for EuroMillions are sold in nine countries - Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Irish Republic, Portugal and Switzerland.