Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Wednesday’s lottery winner to get record-breaking £42 million

Lotto spokeswoman: 'A single winner would instantly become the biggest Lotto winner the nation has ever seen'

Kate Ng
Monday 28 December 2015 13:06 EST
Comments
Wednesday's lottery winner could walk away with £42 million
Wednesday's lottery winner could walk away with £42 million (Glyn Genin)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A lucky winner could walk away with £42 million this Wednesday as Britain’s biggest lottery jackpot ever climbs to a record high.

The winning numbers on Saturday were 58, 44, 17, 31, 21, 38 and the bonus number was 20, but nobody matched all the numbers, which could have won someone £39 million.

A spokeswoman for the National Lottery said: “The Lotto jackpot is poised to break records with 42.2 million waiting to be won on Wednesday.

“A single winner would instantly become the biggest Lotto winner the nation has ever seen.”

The current record held for the biggest lottery jackpot is £42,008,610, which was won in 1996 by three anonymous winners.

National Lottery introduced sweeping changes in October, increasing the number of balls from 49 to 59, and allowing players who match two numbers to win a Lucky Dip ticket for a future draw.

Couple win lottery - again

Lotto operator Camelot insisted the changes would increase the overall chance of winning any prize from one in 54 to one in 9.3.

However, the changes were met with pessimism from the public, as well as experts.

A statistician from Lancaster University Management School, Professor Ian Walker, said: “There are 14 million ways of picking six out of 49. But there are 45 million ways of picking six out of 59. So it’s about three times harder to hit the jackpot.”

Despite the overall scepticism, there have been four jackpot winners since the changes were rolled through, according to the Daily Mail.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in