/ 17 September 2005

What would you do with R585m?

One lucky lottery player won a French record €75-million (R585-million) in the Euro Millions lottery roll-over jackpot on Friday, the organisers announced.

The winner bought the ticket in a railway café in the town of Franconville, in the suburbs north of Paris, the Francaise des Jeux company said.

While the €75 888 514 jackpot is a record haul for a French lottery winner, the overall Euro Millions record holder is Irish mother-of-six Dolores McNamara, who pocketed a cool €115 436 126 in July.

The old French record of more than €34-million had been held by an anonymous winner in the southern city of Marseilles in February.

The first Euro Millions lottery was launched in February last year by France, Spain and Britain, while Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Ireland and Austria joined a few months later. — Sapa-AFP