Chester student wins more than £1 million from £2 lottery ticket

Jirtchaya Klongjarn, 30, is sharing the fortune with her mother in Thailand

Jirtchaya Klongjarn won more than £1 million on the Ladbrokes 49s lottery (Ladbrokes)

A mature student from Chester has become a millionaire after spending just £2 on a betting shop lottery.

Jirtchaya Klongjarn, 30, picked some of the winning numbers on Friday based on her birthday and did the rest at random, winning £1,000,990 in total.

The betting firm, Ladbrokes, claimed the jackpot made her the first woman in Britain to win more than one million in a bookmakers’.

“I'm over the moon and I still can't believe it,” she said. "It still doesn't feel real and I've barely slept.

"I had some bad luck earlier on in the year but this has made up for it.”

Ms Klongjarn, who was born in Thailand, has played the 49s lottery for four months and has previously won £601, narrowly missing out on the £200,000 prize earlier this year.

She said she picked 8 and 12 as her birthday is the 12 August and left the rest of the numbers to fate.

Jirtchaya Klongjarn won more than £1 million on the Ladbrokes 49s lottery (Ladbrokes)

The 49s draw takes place twice a day and matching six numbers wins.

It was only the second time the million pound jackpot had ever been paid out, after a man won from a £4 stake in Bournemouth in December last year.

Ms Klongjarn was planning to celebrate her win with friends at Chester racecourse on Friday and will share her new fortune with her mother, who still lives in Thailand.

She plans to continue studying her MBA (Masters of Business Administration) degree at Chester University.

Alex Donohue, from Ladbrokes, said the odds of two winners in a year were “very long” at more than 65 million to 1.

“We couldn't be happier for our history-making millionaire,” he said.

"These jackpots are won once in a blue moon so the odds of two coming along in under a year are very long (65,182,370/1).

“We're not expecting any sympathy though and we're paying out with a smile."