There have been many documented cases of people in the UK winning big on the National Lottery. This includes wins on the Lotto draw, Thunderball draw, EuroMillions, and so on. In fact, the biggest ever EuroMillions win of £195 million went to a British couple in 2022.
Yet in most instances, lottery wins don’t come to those who are playing for the first time. Usually, it takes several attempts before anything comes to a player. Even then, it may be no more than a few pounds in winnings.
Even so, there have been some cases of players winning big on their very first time buying a lottery ticket. This has happened in the United Kingdom, as well as in various other countries. We’re going to look at some of the instances of players winning big on their first time.
Electrician from Coventry Wins £1 Million on First-Time Buy
Our first story takes us back to June of 2020. At that time, the United Kingdom, like much of the world, was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet this didn’t stop the National Lottery from taking place. The same is true for the EuroMillions draw. What better time to buy a lottery ticket than during a pandemic, right?
That was what Simon Waddup, 31, from Coventry decided to do. While shopping for food in his local Aldi supermarket, he had the idea. It didn’t come to him in a split second, though. The electrician said that he “kept hearing a voice” repeating the same phrase in his head. It told him to buy a lottery ticket for the EuroMillion draw on May 19 of that year. He thought to follow the guidance in his head, purchasing two £2.50 EuroMillion Lucky Dips.
This all came about because once he got back home from Aldi, he logged in to his National Lottery account. Having played Instant Win Games on the website, he already had funds there. Yet at the time, only £5 remained in his account. That’s when he thought to use all the money up with the two lucky dip tickets for that night. He forgot all about the draw until the next morning when he was waiting for delivery from 7am. It was at 8:30am that he received a notification on his phone from the National Lottery.
The message informed him that he had secured a £1 million prize. Yet he didn’t quite believe it until he called the lottery and had the information confirmed. Upon taking it all in, he told his ten-year-old daughter the news. She requested a passport, as she had never been abroad on holiday. Waddup then phoned his sister and mum, who didn’t believe his £1 million win. It was even more bizarre for him, as it was the first time he had ever played a main draw game.
He hoped to fulfil his dream of being a property developer with the £1 million win. Not only that, but the win came about at an ideal time in his life. Declining health had restricted his capabilities of working and pursuing his dream. He has a rare blood disorder which means he has to take blood-thinning tablets. A faulty heart valve adds to the issues he suffers with. Yet once he won the EuroMillions, he spent time researching properties online. He also planned to take family holidays with his daughter.
$48 Million for an 18-Year-Old’s First Time Playing in Canada
It’s one thing to win for the first time you play the lottery. It’s quite another to win in that instance when you’re a first-time player of 18. Yet that is the case for Juliette Lamour of Ontario, Canada. Having only turned 18 a few days before, she decided to buy a lottery ticket for the Lotto 649 game. Lamour spoke of her decision to buy the ticket coming from her grandfather. He suggested she go ahead with buying one for fun.
The draw, which took place on January 7, 2023, was something she checked into on her phone while at work. The Canadian lottery app is useful for buying tickets and checking results. Lamour said that when she logged in, a jingle started to play through it. At the same time, the words, “Big Winner” showed up on her screen. It was at that point that she and her colleagues were screaming with delight. Her payout? C$48 million. Not bad for a first-time player of 18, right?
As would be quite normal, the teenager said she couldn’t take the news in at first. She called her parents and was sobbing down the phone, so her mother couldn’t understand what she was saying. As it happens, her father managed to decipher her words. Lamour spoke of not being able to concentrate at work afterwards, so her boss sent her home. Her mother wanted her to finish her shift for the day, though!
Lamour hopes to become a doctor in Ontario after graduating from college. She said that she also intends to invest the C$48 million. Due to her father being a financial planner, that shouldn’t be too difficult, either.
Some of the money was also to go towards a family trip. The intention was to select a continent and explore it. “I’m not one to spend my days at the beach”, Lamour said. Instead, she wanted to explore different countries and learn about their history and culture.
The Youngest Ever Winner in the United Kingdom Scoops £1 Million on Her First Try
For many people, buying a lottery ticket when they come of age is a bit of fun. Who hasn’t gone to the local newsagent and purchased themselves a lottery ticket at that age? Jane Park from Edinburgh did exactly that. At 17-years-old, she decided to head to her local news agency and buy a lucky dip on the lottery. To cut a long story short, the lucky dip was very lucky. Once the draw was complete, Park had won £1 million!
At the time of winning the lottery, Jane was residing in a two-bedroom council house. Her small dwellings meant that she had to share a room with her older sister. Park was also working as an assistant in an office. Satisfied and enjoying her work, she also enjoyed going out at weekends with friends.
Upon winning the lottery, she decided to go public about the £1 million. In typical teenage fashion, Jane posted about the win on her Facebook page. As is often the case with these things, nobody believed she had actually won. Even her best friend thought she was joking about the jackpot when first reading of it. Then, Park appeared on the evening news in Edinburgh. It didn’t take long for people to realise she wasn’t making it up.
Afterwards, Park said that people kept coming up to her asking questions. Everyone wanted to know what she was doing with the £1 million. She received support from her family, although her grandma had doubts. She commented that Jane had a good job and a good life. Now she had a million pounds handed out to her on a plate. “It’s like giving someone a gun!”, she commented.
Sometimes, the pressure of being a big winner overwhelmed Jane, though. Trying to decide what to do with such a vast amount of money would be difficult for anyone. Yet for someone who is 17, it’s a different scenario. The hardest part, she confessed, was deciding how much money to give to family and friends.
A television show by the BBC filmed her on her first year as a millionaire. This saw her take family holidays to Benidorm and Magaluf, as well as buy a designer chihuahua called Princess.
$90 Million for First-Time Powerball Lottery Player
This story surrounds a player who had dabbled in lottery games before. Yet she had never purchased a ticket for the Powerball game in the United States. Lisa Quam of Auburn, Washington would usually buy a ticket on special occasions. This would be for a gift for someone on their birthday or at Christmas, for example. She had never bought a Powerball ticket before. Yet on Thanksgiving in 2014, she was undertaking a bit of last-minute shopping. At the same time, she decided to try her luck with the lottery game.
In fact, she bought two tickets – one for herself and another for her husband. The tickets were then stuck on the fridge, and she forgot about them until the Sunday night. It was at that point that she decided to check the numbers. On her ticket – 25, 30, 32, 46, 54 and 26. All six were winners, netting Quam the £90 million jackpot payout. In an instant, she yelled for her family to go upstairs where she was. “They all took turns checking the numbers and rechecking the numbers”, she said.
Quam overcame the one in 175 million odds to pick up the massive prize. Yet she attributed the win to “dumb luck”. Doubtless, the $90 million payout changed the lives of her and her family. The pair said they would pay off their childrens’ student loans and repair their house. They even spoke of buying homes for their children, too.
Of course, the tax deductions in Washington meant that Quam didn’t get the whole $90 million. Instead, she was to receive $56.8 million, either in 30 annual payments or in a lump sum. A $50,000 selling bonus also went to the store in Auburn where Quam bought her ticket.
A $1 Million Win for a Ticket That Was Almost Never Bought
For Skylar Uhren from Pennsylvania, lottery tickets weren’t something she usually bought. Instead, she opted for scratchcards. Yet on one visit to the store in 2012, the 23-year-old took friends along with her. They persuaded her to buy Powerball lottery tickets instead of the scratchcards. That marked the first time she had ever played the Powerball. She should have thanked her friends for their efforts after she won in the November 28 draw.
Skylar was one of three Pennsylvania second-tier prize winners on that date. She commented that at first, she “really didn’t want to waste my money”. Yet she went ahead with buying the tickets despite that. Then, she was online using her Facebook account, when one of her friends posted the winning numbers. That was when she knew she had won.
Her friend Tracy travelled with her to the Lottery headquarters to file her prize claim. She commented, “Good things happen to good people. Things will come around, and it did”.
Skylar had no immediate plans on how to spend the money. Yet she did mention that she would investigate investment opportunities.
$150K Winner Believed Lottery Was a Waste of Time
Our final story is quite a recent one, coming from 2022. It tells the tale of Danny Johnson, who had refused to buy a lottery ticket his whole life. As it happens, he had spent a lot of time saying it was “a waste of time”. That mantra was something he had stuck to for many years. Yet one of his friends convinced him to buy a Powerball ticket in November of 2022.
Johnson from Virginia, USA, found himself picking up a $150,000 win from his number picks. He didn’t manage to match all six but matched five of the numbers in the draw. At first, Johnson didn’t know how much he’d won because he’d never played before.
According to the Virginia Lottery, five numbers matching usually wins $50,000. Yet Johnson spent an extra dollar for Power Play. This triples the payout, leading to the $150,000 reward. Johnson said it would only be fair for him to treat his pal who coaxed him into buying the ticket. Other than that, he had no immediate plans for the money.