£113m Lottery prize paid out

The £113 million EuroMillions Lottery jackpot won earlier this month has been claimed and paid out to a UK winner, Camelot said today.

The winner, from the draw on Friday October 8, is deciding whether or not to go public with the windfall.

The £113,019,926 jackpot is the biggest lottery prize to be paid out in the UK and the ticket-holder now sits at the top of the UK's National Lottery Rich List.

A spokeswoman for Camelot said she could not confirm whether the winner had actually produced a ticket.

The lottery operator revealed yesterday it had received more than 1,000 lost ticket claims relating to the massive jackpot.

The claims, coming from around the country, were understood to include some from people who have admitted they do not even know whether the ticket they mislaid matched the winning numbers.

One unnamed pensioner who believed her husband threw away her winning ticket was reported to have a written record of her "win".

She told the Coventry Telegraph although she had noted down her winning numbers after buying a EuroMillions ticket, her husband had binned it by the time she realised her good fortune.

Aged in her 70s and living in Coventry, the woman told the newspaper: "I play the lottery, the EuroMillions and the Thunderball - but my husband takes the ticket off me and I don't see it again.

"That's why I always write my numbers down."

If the ticket-holder decides to remain anonymous then no further details, including the location where the winning ticket was purchased, will be revealed, Camelot said.

Whoever they are, the overnight millionaire joins the ranks of the rich and famous, with pots of cash to lavish on luxury homes, yachts, cars or other extravagances.

The ticket-holder will immediately become the 589th wealthiest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, and will be wealthier than veteran pop stars like Rod Stewart and David Bowie, according to Camelot.

With a tax-free prize of £113 million, they will eclipse the likes of pop stars Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, who are said to be worth £110 million, Phil Collins, who has a fortune of £108 million, Rod Stewart (£105 million) and David Bowie, who has an estimated £100 million to his name.

Shopping sprees could include splashing out on a £12 million Ferrari 250 GTO, a week in a private villa on Mustique for a cool £85,000, or a couple of private jets - a Boeing 767 costs around £56 million.

Among the properties in reach of the new multi-millionaire is London's biggest private home, which is due to be built in Regent's Park with a value of more than £100 million.

Alternatively, the ticket-holder may decide to put it all in the bank.

High street banks are offering 2.75% on standard savings accounts at the moment and this would net the winners £8,500 a day in interest alone.