A British woman who scooped the EuroMillions lottery jackpot of £35,4-million was said on Wednesday to be a £16 000-a-year postal worker.
Newspaper reports said Angela Cunningham, who is said to be in her 40s with a 14-year-old son, paid £1,50 for a lucky dip ticket for Friday’s draw but did not know she had won until Monday.
Cunningham, who is due to face the press at a news conference in central Scotland later on Wednesday, is reported to be separated from husband Gerry, who worked with her at a Royal Mail sorting office in the city of Glasgow.
Her windfall — still only the ninth-biggest payout won by a single person in the nine-country lottery that has been operating since 2004 — takes her straight to the top of Britain’s rich list of lotto winners.
She replaces previous British record holder Marion Richardson, from Gateshead, north-east England, who won £16,7-million on the EuroMillions draw in April 2004.
The biggest EuroMillions jackpot to date was £77-million, which was won by mother-of-six Dolores McNamara, of Limerick, Ireland, in July 2005.
A spokesperson for Camelot, which operates the British arm of the European lottery, said: “Camelot can confirm that the winner of Friday’s EuroMillions jackpot has come forward.
“Their ticket has now been validated and the prize has been paid out.”
Cunningham’s win came after the draw “rolled over” three times. — AFP