Will YOU start the weekend richer than Ed Sheeran? Biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot is up for grabs TONIGHT with punters in with a chance of winning record £201million prize

The jackpot for tonight’s EuroMillions has hit an incredible £201million – the highest sum in the history of the draw. 

The bumper prize would pip the current record of £195m which was won by a mystery Brit in 2022. 

Overnight, the winner would become one of the nation’s 1,000 richest people, worth more than stars like Robbie Williams, Sir Tom Jones and Ed Sheeran. 

They could buy four Caribbean islands, with a few million to spare, or the equivalent of 11 six-bedroom luxury properties in London’s Hyde Park.

Alternatively, they could snap up a fleet of 500 Rolls Royce Phantoms. 

The EuroMillions draw on Friday is set to be worth a massive £201million – a record figure 

The bumper prize would pip the current record of £195m, which was won by a mystery Brit in 2022

Joe and Jess from Thwaite, Gloucestershire, won £184million on EuroMillions in May 2022. 

The pair, who have been married for 11 years, said they wanted to go public because they did not want to put the ‘burden’ of keeping the secret on others.

The couple said they would share the win with extended family, with Mr Thwaite’s ex-wife saying she was ‘over the moon’ for them.

READ MORE – Curse of the lottery! Britain’s youngest EuroMillions winner says she REGRETS her £1 million windfall at 17 – and she’s not the only one whose life went downhill after hitting the jackpot 

Joe admitted that he saw the winning numbers via the National Lottery app as his wife lay asleep and did not wake her – but instead started browsing for properties.

The EuroMillions jackpot was £186m yesterday, but with no one winning the top prize it’s now grown even more. 

Only 14 players have ever won a jackpot of more than £100 million, with the previous UK record-holder an anonymous winner of £170 million in October 2019.

Seven of the ten biggest UK EuroMillions winners have remained anonymous but some winners have invested in football clubs, bought sprawling estates and given millions to charity.

Colin and Chris Weir from Largs, North Ayrshire won £161.6million in July 2011, making them the biggest UK winners at the time.

Their jackpot is now the third biggest ever won in the UK. Mr Weir invested £2.5million in his beloved Partick Thistle football club – acquiring a 55 per cent shareholding.

The couple also set up the Weir Charitable Trust in 2013 and donated £1million to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. They divorced in 2019.

Adrian and Gillian Bayford won £148.6million in August 2012 and bought a Grade II-listed estate in Cambridgeshire, complete with a cinema and billiards room. But it was sold in 2021 after the pair divorced.

Joe and Jess from Thwaite, Gloucestershire, won £184million on EuroMillions in May 2022 

Until recently the couple lived in this £600,000 house in Gloucester which they sold to live in a rented property just months before their big win

And Frances and Patrick Connolly, who won nearly £115million on New Year’s Day 2019, set up charitable foundations with their jackpot money. 

But things haven’t always gone to plan, with Jane Park – Britain’s youngest EuroMillions winner – saying how her life went downhill after a £1million windfall and she ‘wouldn’t wish it on anyone’. 

Appearing on an episode of the US TV show Dr Phil, Jane Park, 27, discussed the downsides of her EuroMillions windfall in 2013 when she was 17-years- old.

In the episode, titled ‘The Curse of the Lottery,’ Jane, from Edinburgh was joined on the CBS show by experts discussing the odds of lotteries and the reasons people enter.

Jane said she was too young to cope with stalkers, death threats, and negative media attention, after previously saying the windfall had ‘ruined’ her life.

The UK’s top 10 lottery winners 

This Friday’s estimated jackpot of £201million would be the highest sum in the history of the draw. 

Previous record lottery wins include:

Anonymous, £170,221,000

The second biggest winner of the National Lottery to date scooped £170 million in October 2019, after matching all the numbers in a Must Be Won draw.

Colin and Chris Weir, £161,653,000

Colin and Chris Weir from Largs, North Ayrshire, bagged their historic winnings in July 2011, making them the biggest UK winners at the time.

Colin used £2.5 million of his fortune to invest in his beloved Partick Thistle football club, which led to one of the stands at the stadium to be named after him.

Colin and Chris Weir from Largs, North Ayrshire, won a massive £161,653,000

He later acquired 55% shareholding in the club, which was to be passed into the hands of the local community upon his death. He died in December 2019, aged 71.

The couple also set up the Weir Charitable Trust in 2013 and donated £1 million to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. They divorced in the same year as Colin’s death.

Adrian and Gillian Bayford, £148,656,000

Adrian and Gillian won 190 million euro in a EuroMillions draw in August 2012, which came to just over £148 million. The couple bought a Grade-II listed estate in Cambridgeshire, complete with cinema and billiards room but it was sold in 2021, some years after the pair divorced, as reported by The Mirror.

Adrian and Gillian won more than £148million in a EuroMillions draw in August 2012

Anonymous, £123,458,008

The fourth biggest National Lottery winner won a Superdraw rollover jackpot in June 2019, and decided not to go public with their success.

Anonymous, £122,550,350

After nine rollovers, one lucky anonymous ticket-holder bagged more than £122 million in April 2021.

Anonymous, £121,328,187

Another of the UK’s top 10 lottery winners found their fortune through a Superdraw jackpot rollover, this time in April 2018.

Frances and Patrick Connolly, £114,969,775

Former social worker and teacher Frances set up two charitable foundations after she and her husband won almost £115 million on New Year’s Day 2019. She estimates that she has already given away £60 million to charitable causes, as well as friends and family.

Patrick and Frances Connolly collected £115million in the 2019 New Year’s Day draw

She considers helping others to be an addiction. ‘It gives you a buzz and it’s addictive. I’m addicted to it now,’ she said.

Anonymous, £113,019,926

Although they have dropped several places since their win, this ticket-holder jumped to the top of the National Lottery rich list when they won their fortune in October 2010.

Anonymous, £111,540,000

The only winning ticket for this Superdraw jackpot in June 2021 was sold in the UK.  

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