Brexit; Trump; the death of countless celebrities and much-loved music icons; it’s fair to say that 2016 was a bit of a stinker for some. But new National Lottery figures show that last year was extremely lucky for UK lottery players especially, with more millionaires made in 2016 than in any year before it, as well as a vast number of players picking up five-digit sums of cash.
Record-Breaking Wins
As well as the UK’s EuroMillions players bagging dozens of gigantic cash prizes over the last 12 months, Lotto lovers also had a sensational 2016, with one player even managing to scoop a whopping £35 million — the draw’s biggest ever jackpot. 347 UK millionaires were created in 2016 alone, with jackpot winners taking home £862 million in total, and a staggering 953 Britons also managing to scoop prizes of over £50,000 in the same period. National Lottery games as a whole have now paid out £61 billion in prizes since launch, proving once and for all that you really do have to be in it to win it.
For the Love of Good
2016 wasn’t just good news for winning ticket-holders either — more than £30 million was raised every single week for Good Causes across the United Kingdom by lottery players, with that money going towards everything from health and sport to art and the 442 British film projects supported last year alone. In fact, with 28p of every £1 spent on National Lottery games going into the Good Causes Fund, 2016 saw the 500,000th Good Cause grant awarded — that’s half a million major UK projects funded entirely by lottery players’ passion.
And of course, without all the support of National Lottery players, 2016 would have been a very different year from British sport. With your help, Britain’s athletes brought home an incredible 214 medals, many of them gold.
What will 2017 bring for Britain’s EuroMillions players? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, this Friday’s EuroMillions jackpot currently stands at an estimated £31 million — more than enough to start your year off with a bang!