Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Liam Trim & Estel Farell Roig

Who won EuroMillions jackpot? Gloucestershire couple revealed as record lottery winners

The winners of Britain's ever biggest lottery jackpot have been announced - and they are a couple from Gloucestershire.

The couple are named Joe and Jess Thwaite and won was £184,262,899.10. An event took place in Cheltenham this morning (May 19) to reveal the winners.

Joe, 49, a communications sales engineer, and Jess, 44, who runs a hairdressing salon with her sister, have been married for 11 years and have two primary school-aged children.

Read more: 'Absolute chaos' as Bristol Airport travellers forced to queue outside for security

Mrs Thwaite said: “The win gives us time to dream, which we haven’t had before. We’ve had one week to think about this and we now have time to share lots of experiences and go on adventures with our family and friends.

“Our two children have always talked about going to Hawaii, I’ve no idea why but we can now make that dream come true.

“They have always wanted a horse box for our ponies rather than the run-down trailer we use.

“Just to see their faces when we can make these things come true will be worth every penny.”

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Thwaite said he was working on Tuesday and by 4pm he thought he “better buy a ticket” because he was aware of the jackpot.

He said he regularly buys tickets, adding: “I normally buy them when it’s a good amount, so when there’s a lot of money I’ll put it on. I use the app, and have a quick check a couple of times a week and I’ll put it on.

“But generally my luck is pretty terrible, to be honest with you.”

His wife Jess added: “He tries to convince me to buy them thinking I’ll have more luck, but actually it’s him.”

Mr Thwaite said that when he received an email telling him he won a prize he thought it was a lucky dip.

“Then I looked at the amount and I put the phone down. And I picked the phone up again, and I looked at the amount again.

“I first thought it was in the thousands,” he said, adding that he thought it was “life-changing”.

But then he “started counting the digits”, adding: “Amazing, but also surreal.”

He said they have been trying to move house for quite a while and he went on Rightmove.

“You go on Rightmove and you set your limits on what you can afford, and in the past everything we’ve kind of wanted is far beyond what we can afford so I thought I don’t need to filter, I can actually just look at anything,” he said.

“I feel this is the way we can be honest with them all, we can enjoy it with them all.”

Joe Thwaite, 49, and Jess Thwaite, 46, from Gloucestershire celebrate after winning the record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot of £184M from the draw on Tuesday 10 May, 2022, at the Ellenborough Park Hotel, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Picture date: Thursday May 19, 2022. (PA Wire/PA Images)

Mrs Thwaite said her husband “took on the baton” of doing the lottery from her father, who died seven years ago.

Mrs Thwaite said her father “always used the same numbers”, but her husband said: “I always go with a lucky dip because I think that’s easier.”

It's not the first time a Gloucestershire couple have scooped one of the biggest jackpots around, as reported by GloucestershireLive. Back in 2010, Justine Laycock and Nigel Page, of Cirencester, were announced as winners of a £56m jackpot.

At the time, it was Britain's biggest ever prize. Mr Page said he was simply a "white van man". He had purchased two Lucky Dips for the EuroMillions.

He was encouraged by winning £55 in a Lotto draw. The win was shared with one other ticket, bought by someone in Spain.

In 2010, the Cirencester couple's win made them richer than Kylie Minogue (then £35m) and Van Morrison (then £50m). Mr Page and Ms Laycock pledged to stay in the area but wanted to move house.

But this time around there's no sharing involved. Today's Cheltenham announcement catapulted the 2022 winners into the UK rich list.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.