After winning approximately £185 million ($230 million, 218 million euros) in the EuroMillions draw, a married couple from western England were named Britain’s biggest-ever lottery winners on Thursday.
Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, described the record-breaking victory as “amazing for us” after they claimed the record-breaking sum of £184,262,899 earlier this month with a ticket of randomly selected numbers.
“It was great but also bizarre,” Joe, 49, a communications firm employee, said at a news conference alongside his wife as they described the moment they found their win online on May 10.
“I calculated the sum. I placed the phone down and took it up again, this time looking at the amount!”
The early riser managed to keep his excitement in check long enough to let his wife sleep until her alarm went off — and then delivered the news.
“He said, ‘I’ve got a secret to tell you,'” Jess, 44, remembered. “Don’t be foolish!” she exclaimed, adding that they initially mistook it for a joke and were “clearly wrong.”
The pair, like many other Britons, has been trying to make ends meet due to the country’s rising cost of living, and they intend to share their newfound wealth with friends and family.
“This is a great thing that’s happened to us, which means it’s an amazing thing that’s happened to our family, and we want to share it with them,” Jess, who owns a hair salon with her mother and sister, said.
“It’s amazing and thrilling, but it’s also a huge relief for everyone who’s been struggling with their bills.”
“We’re just like any other family… so it’s a big relief.”
‘Family vacation’
In the midst of Britain’s spiralling energy bills, Joe said the spectacular win meant they could enjoy basic pleasures like hot water without worrying about the costs.
“I did turn on the immersion heater the other day and heat up the hot water and just assumed that was OK,” he added.
Aside from that, the Thwaite family — which includes two primary school-aged children and a variety of pets such as horses, ponies, dogs, and even geckos — is planning a rare family vacation and, most likely, a new car purchase.
“We never go on vacation,” Jess explained. “So our kids would just die to go to the sun and do that kind of thing,” she continued, saying that one preferred Hawaii and the other a Texas horse ranch.
The prize won by Thwaite sets a new record in the United Kingdom and is the second largest in EuroMillions history, which is played in nine European countries.
Last October, an unknown woman won an unprecedented 220-million-euro prize despite never having played the game before.
