£110m to be won in euromillions - could it be you?

Ever wondered what it’s like to win the lottery? With a EuroMillions Super Event Draw jackpot of £110M* up for grabs this Friday night (September 25), we caught up with Camelot’s Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery, for an exclusive insight…
Frances and Patrick Connolly from Moira in Northern Ireland celebrate becoming the fourth biggest National Lottery winners ever after scooping an incredible £114,969,775.70 EuroMillions jackpot.   Photo by Stephen Hamilton/PresseyeFrances and Patrick Connolly from Moira in Northern Ireland celebrate becoming the fourth biggest National Lottery winners ever after scooping an incredible £114,969,775.70 EuroMillions jackpot.   Photo by Stephen Hamilton/Presseye
Frances and Patrick Connolly from Moira in Northern Ireland celebrate becoming the fourth biggest National Lottery winners ever after scooping an incredible £114,969,775.70 EuroMillions jackpot. Photo by Stephen Hamilton/Presseye

As the man who hands out big money National Lottery cheques to winners, Andy never knows when his phone is going to ring with news of another lucky winner – or where they might come from.

Last year, Andy had the pleasure of handing over a staggering £114,969,775.70 EuroMillions jackpot win to Moira couple Frances and Patrick Connolly after they became Northern Ireland’s biggest ever winners on New Year’s Day, 2019.

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And just like the famous National Lottery logo, people across Northern Ireland will be keeping their fingers crossed and dreaming that they can follow in the Connollys’ footsteps this Friday night (September 25) when, in a special Super Jackpot Event Draw, the EuroMillions jackpot will be bumped up to £110M*.

Belfast woman Mary Hamilton celebrates scooping a massive £12,935,936.30 jackpot in the Euromillions draw.Belfast woman Mary Hamilton celebrates scooping a massive £12,935,936.30 jackpot in the Euromillions draw.
Belfast woman Mary Hamilton celebrates scooping a massive £12,935,936.30 jackpot in the Euromillions draw.

Whoever might walk away with this amazing sum of money if the jackpot is won, Andy already knows that the potential winner will be in shock – and dealing with a rollercoaster of varying emotions.

Ahead of the big draw, Andy (47) talked to us about the unique but exciting challenges that a life-changing win can sometimes present and the support that he and his colleagues at Camelot would provide, should someone from Northern Ireland strike it lucky this weekend.

“As a Winners’ Advisor, my job is to look after and support our winners every step of the way from the moment they realise they’ve won to actually getting their prize money, and often long after that as well,” said Andy who has handed out more than £2billion to winners in the past 14 years – including more than £300million last year alone.

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During this time he has seen every emotion and reaction you’d care to imagine, from tears of joy and laughter to people swearing or even being physically sick.

“Winners are often in shock for the first few days after the win – which is why our first piece of advice is always to take your time, do nothing in haste and maybe have a holiday, so you can allow the news to sink in,” he said.

The Change Curve

Psychologists have identified a ‘Change Curve’ which charts the stages most people go through after major events in their lives, and winning the lottery is one of them, according to Andy.

“Winners experience a whole host of emotions, right across the spectrum,” said Andy, “and for some, the ‘Change Curve’ will be steeper than others.

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“It’s not surprising, given the incredible amounts of money involved.

For example, if someone from Northern Ireland was to win the EuroMillions Super Event Draw jackpot this Friday night – and the Connollys have shown that it could very well happen – their world would be turned upside down overnight, in an amazing way of course!

“We’re very aware of the emotional journey our winners go through and we offer an incredible amount of support to help them through this - and indeed every aspect of their win, which nowadays extends far beyond the financial and legal advice that winners have always relied on.”

Now the wider Camelot support team includes qualified life coaches with experience of helping people going through change, finding a new focus and creating a ‘bucket list’.

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New winners can also avail themselves of a recently-introduced luxury concierge service.

Andy continued: “One piece of advice we give new winners is to treat yourself to something that makes this win seem real, like flying first class or a nice hotel. So to help organise this, we have a new luxury concierge service.

“When the world returns to some kind of normality, if a winner wants to book 20 flights for their family or a hospitality box at Windsor Park or the Kingspan Stadium, our team will arrange everything. If you need to move house, they’ll organise it!”

Also on hand is a team of security experts to provide tips on everything from keeping your property secure to social media and cyber security.

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“The winning experience is constantly evolving and we want everyone to feel supported throughout the process,” said Andy. “Over the past 25 years, our support team has helped lots and lots of lottery winners, so rest assured you’re in very good hands.

“Of course, family and friends also play an important role in keeping winners’ feet on the ground as, despite the win, family life tends to go on as normal.”

More than £75billion in prize money has been paid out since the National Lottery launched in 1994 and more than 5,700 millionaires have been made, many of whom in that time have had the pleasure of meeting Andy.

“I’ve greeted more than 2,000 winners since I started working with Camelot in 2006,” he said.

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“We have long-standing relationships with many winners who have kept in contact after their win. Sometimes when a winner decides to remain anonymous, we are the only people that know about their win and we keep in touch with them for as long as they want to. Being a Winners’ Advisor is such a fantastic job, although working for Camelot does mean that we’re unable to play ourselves. However, it’s a real privilege to be part of winners’ lives at a time they will never ever forget and to be able to help guide them through all the stages of this life-changing event.

“It’s fantastic to go back to them later to see just how their win has changed their lives and the lives of their family,” concluded Andy.

*The jackpot for this Friday night’s EuroMillions ‘Super Jackpot Event Draw’ is a guaranteed 130M EUROS, regardless of whether the September 22 EuroMillions jackpot was won or not. Therefore, the jackpot prize amount in pounds sterling is dependent on exchange rates. If nobody wins the jackpot on Friday night (September 25), it will roll over to the next draw.

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