Last night, someone in Austria got very rich after scooping a whopping £209,000,000.
The lucky EuroMillions ticket holder won the lottery’s biggest ever jackpoton Saturday after several rollovers kept pushing the prize money up.
This is the 20th time in EuroMillions history, a person or syndicate in Austria has walked off with the big prize.
Someone in Austria also won the second ever biggest jackpot of €240 million (around £201 million) in December 2023.
But unsurprisingly, out of the nine countries that take part in the lottery, those with the highest populations have the largest number of jackpot winners over the years.
The UK, with a population of almost 67 million, tops the table with 132 jackpot winners since the contest started in 2004, while France, which has a population of around 66.6 million, follows closely behind with 130 winners.
Spain, with a population of 49 million, comes third with 122 winners.
Portugal, meanwhile has had 86 winners, Belgium 45, Switzerland 26, Ireland 19 and the tiny country of Luxembourg, 4.
The third biggest jackpot – €230 million (around £192 million) – was in the UK in July 2022.
All of the top three winners chose to stay anonymous. In fact, in the top six jackpot winner list, the only ones who have revealed their identity are British couple Jess and Joe Thwaite, who scooped €215 million (around £184 million) in May 2022.
They revealed they still went to work on the day they found out and decided to go public so as not to ‘burden’ others with their secret.
Winning such a colossal amount of money seems like a dream come true – and for some it really is.
But, as we explored here, there are many examples of winners whose lives took a turn for the worse after scooping the jackpot.
According one study, in the US one third find themselves in financial trouble.
Of course we don’t want to take pleasure in other people’s misery, but if you’re feeling a little sad that you didn’t win last night’s gigantic sum, bearing that in mind might take the edge off.
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