Britain’s National Lottery winners in 2024: How a manufacturing unit employee who popped out to purchase some bread, a pair of cops and the spouse of a terminally-ill man all grew to become millionaires this 12 months – whereas one unknown winner scooped £177MILLION

The National Lottery created a staggering 383 millionaires in 2024 – that translates to more than one every day.

Whether it was a factory worker going out to buy some bread who ended up returning with a different kind of dough or two police officers thinking they had been scammed, each winner has their own unique story.

In total, the winners shared £848 million between them, the National Lottery has said, while 2024 marked the milestone of £50 billion raised for good causes.

An average of 70 high-tier prizes were paid out each month, with a total of 846 prizes worth £50,000 or more won by participants.

Crunching the numbers on 2024’s winners, builders were apparently the luckiest profession, with health service workers coming in second.

In terms of numbers, 11 was the luckiest, appearing 16 times, followed by 48, 25, 19 and 3. The least drawn balls were 55, 30 and 46.

Here MailOnline looks at the tales in more detail and at how their happily ever afters played out. 

Factory worker scoops cash while out for loaf of bread

A factory worker said the ‘stars aligned’ after he won £1 million on a scratch card following a quick trip to the shops for bread.

Luke Harris, 34, from Canterbury in Kent, headed to his local Co-op store in Island Road to buy a loaf of bread, but came home with a £1 million-winning Merry Millionaire National Lottery scratch card.

He spoke out in November this year following the win, and said: ‘I keep thinking someone is going to take it all away from me and tell me it’s a prank.’

The lucky shopper, who lives with his fiancee, Alison Coke, 34, and their four children, added: ‘We’ve already purchased a new family car, a Nissan X-Trail. We are looking at a wedding venue – we got engaged last September but had to put it on the back burner as the house was the priority.’

He said the winning number he scratched off was 31, which is the couple’s lucky number after they had their first date on August 31, 2020.

Family’s loyalty to same numbers finally pays off

A family that played the same lottery numbers since forming a syndicate at a Christmas get together in 1994 celebrated their £1million win last July.

Audrey Cobb, 87, and her three children David Cobb, 67, Carol Nobbs, 55 and 60-year-old Sandra Digby from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, matched five main numbers and the Bonus Ball.

Syndicate leader David said he became ‘the favourite big brother’ after telling the family they had each won £250,000.

He said: ‘We’ve had some small wins along the way but I was definitely the favourite big brother when I told my sisters I was giving them each £250,000.

‘It was an incredible moment, especially for my sister Carol who, after a tough few years, thought she would never have her own home again.’

Cancer survivor has miraculous change of fortune 

An uplifting tale to come out of October this year was that of a cancer survivor who celebrated a miraculous turn in their fortune – in other words, they scooped up £500,000 from the National Lottery Thunderball.

It was exactly a year to the day that John Lingard, 66, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk had one of his kidneys removed to prevent his cancer from spreading that he received his stunning cash price.

Recalling the win itself, Mr Lingard said he remembered purchasing a Lucky Dip ticket for the September 25 draw via the National Lottery app, with his winning numbers of 13, 15, 18, 30 and 33 with Thunderball number 7.

Though, he was at first unsure when he received an automatic message from the app congratulating him on a lotto win, instead believing it to be a nominal payout worth £500 pounds or so.

Not seeing any increase in his available funds, Mr. Lingard put the win notification to the back of his mind and set off for a day’s work as usual.

It wasn’t until a full day later when he read in full the messages from the National Lottery that the penny started to drop.

He said following the win: ‘Having been through such a challenging time with my cancer diagnosis and treatment, I want to be sure I make the most of every moment, whether that’s work, rest or play.’

More happy tears – from a single mum

There were more happy tears up north in county Durham in June this year from 32-year-old single mum Toni Henderson.

Ms Henderson was left in disbelief when she won a staggering £1million in the lottery, after thinking she had only bagged £1,700.

The single mother, who scored well on Lucky Dips, called up the National Lottery to confirm the win but still couldn’t quite believe it.

She drove to her mother’s house along with her son to relay the good news after unsuccessfully calling her multiple times.

Ms Henderson said she was pleased her son was now set for life and hoped the money would last them a lifetime.

Wife of terminally ill man says win ‘could not have come at a better time’

A terminally-ill pensioner found out he would spend the remainder of his life in comfort after his wife won £1 million on the lottery.

Carer Marlyn Anderson, 70, and husband Ian, 77, had been living in the front room of their house due to the round-the-clock treatment Ian needed for a lung disease he developed after working on construction sites.

Mrs Anderson described their current home in Stirling, Scotland, as ‘like a bedsit’, and said she now hoped to find a spacious bungalow nearby after her EuroMillions win.

The couple, who have two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, had been married 32 years at the time of their March cash injection and had had to give up foreign holidays due to Mr Anderson’s diagnosis of pleural plaques and pulmonary fibrosis, which he believed was linked to asbestos exposure.

Mrs Anderson said after the good news: ‘This win couldn’t have come at a better time. It will ensure Ian can have the very best quality of life in the time he has left.

‘As a result of Ian’s condition, he is unable to get upstairs. He struggles to breathe so we currently have our living room set up like a bedsit. We have no other option.

‘Buying a bungalow will allow Ian to have his own bedroom and for us to have a sitting room too, all on one level. This will be so special as it is something we haven’t been able to do for such a long time. He will be able to live the rest of his life in comfort.’

Two police officers think they are being scammed after win

A husband and wife who scooped a £1million EuroMillions prize thought they were being scammed before realising they had won the jackpot.

Graeme White, 35, and wife Katherine, 36, both police officers, were initially sceptical when they received a message on the National Lottery app about their enormous winnings.

But when the couple, who live in Cambridge, eventually matched the code on their ticket with the winning line and got a confirmation call from the Lottery, they realised they were millionaires.

Graeme and Katherine said in June following their win they hoped the fortune would allow them to reduce their working hours to spend more time with their five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son.

They also planned to take the children on a magical holiday to Disneyland and splash out on their dream home in the country, complete with a new labrador puppy, chicken and goats.

Mr White said: ‘It’s usually a couple of quid, so when I saw the message I thought, “Great, that will pay for a lunchtime meal deal at work tomorrow”.

‘But when I opened the message, it said I had £1,000,000 plus £3.30. It had to be a mistake, in my head I thought you could only win a couple of quid or the big jackpot.

‘I’m a bit of a joker at times so when I turned to Katherine, and told her we’d won the EuroMillions, she didn’t take me seriously until she saw my phone.

‘With us both being police officers we see lots of scams, so we were a touch suspicious. Things like this don’t happen to people like us, it just couldn’t be real.

‘As we strolled around B&M absentmindedly the phone rang. I took the call and the guy on the phone confirmed the win and actually said “Congratulations, you’re a millionaire!”.’ 

UK’s biggest win – a whopping £177 million

This year also included the UK’s third biggest-ever win, a £177 million EuroMillions jackpot bagged by an anonymous ticket-holder in the draw on November 26.

The single ticket-holder, who chose to remain anonymous, came forward to claim the EuroMillions jackpot after the draw on November 26.

National Lottery operator Allwyn confirmed they had handed a whopping £177,033,699.20 to the lucky individual.

This made them wealthier than the combined net worths of Dua Lipa, who is valued at an estimated £104 million, and Michael Buble, worth around £63 million.

The mystery millionaire became the third biggest National Lottery winner ever, behind Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, who won a then record-breaking £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket for the draw on May 10 2022.

Among those lucky enough to win big are also those who decided to keep themselves anonymous.

At the start of this year, Camelot confirmed one UK ticket-holder had won more than £61million in the EuroMillions draw.

They bagged half of the £123million jackpot, with the other share split with a ticket-holder in Spain.

Another large amount was scooped six months later in July by a mystery ticket-holder who got their hands on £33million – making them richer than some of the UK’s biggest celebrities.

It comes as Brooklyn Beckham’s wealth is only around £10million while singer Lewis Capaldi is worth £23.9million.

And later that month, one Euromillions player won £24million after the ticket holder matched all five numbers and the two Lucky Star numbers. 

Other Brits have won £3.9 million, £7.4million and £7million in May, November and December respectively.

Though a cautionary tale emerged in October this year after a Euromillions ticket winner in Wales missed their chance to claim their £1million fortune as they made a vital mistake.

The winning Euromillions UK Millionaire Maker ticket was bought in Rhondda Cynon Taf on April 16.

The National Lottery had urged players to double-check their tickets for the winning code, but no one stepped forward.

Because the ticket-holder failed to claim their prize before the 180-day deadline was up, they could not claim a single penny of their winnings.

Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at The National Lottery, said: ‘Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money.

‘However, the money will now add to the £30 million raised each week for National Lottery-funded projects.’

It comes as winners have six months to make a claim, otherwise the money goes towards the good causes fund.