THESE are the lucky Sussex lottery winners who have won life-changing amounts of money.
Nobody won Tuesday’s record £184 million EuroMillions jackpot, which means there will be another chance to collect the huge prize on Friday.
Such was the interest in the massive jackpot that a last-minute rush for tickets caused the National Lottery website and app to run more slowly, meaning some hopefuls were not able to buy a ticket at all.
No tickets across the nine European countries which play EuroMillions matched Tuesday’s numbers, which were 6, 13, 22, 45 and 49 plus the Lucky Stars 10 and 11.
On the EuroMillions website it says the odds of picking five numbers and the two Lucky Stars is one in 139,838,160.
If the sum is won by a single UK ticket it would eclipse the previous top UK prize of £170 million, won by an anonymous EuroMillions ticketholder in 2019.
With someone on the verge of winning one of the biggest jackpots in history, we decided to look back at every winner from Sussex.
Harmony Dawes: £10K per month for one year
Apprentice lifeguard Harmony bought her winning ticket at Morris Neighbourhood Stores on Widdicombe Way in Brighton, and her winning numbers were 4, 7, 11, 24, 29.
Set For Life from The National Lottery costs £1.50 per line to play, draws take place every Monday and Thursday and the top prize is £10,000 every month for 30 years.
Harmony Dawes explained how her dad had burst into her room in the middle of the night to tell her that she had matched her winning numbers to the Set for Life draw on March 26.
When the 17-year-old woke the next morning, she thought the win had just been a dream but when she told her father at the breakfast table, he replied: “Don’t you remember last night? You’ve actually won the lottery, you’ve won £10,000 every month for a whole year.”
Ms Dawes, from Brighton, said: “I’m not sure how I’d forgotten dad bursting into my room in the early hours of Friday morning screaming that I’d won the lottery but it really felt like a dream.
“In fact, even now it’s been confirmed, it still feels like a dream. Every time I think about my win I’m waiting for someone to tell me it’s one big joke, it’s ridiculous, this sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like me. Then again, maybe it does.”
Lizbet Ramus: £1million – December 2019
The mum-of-one who scooped a £1 million lottery prize believes it was a gift from her late mother.
Shoreham resident Lizbet Ramus’ mother Lavender died from an aneurysm in early 2019.
But just months later the shocked 55-year-old won The National Lottery’s UK Millionaire Maker.
She said: “Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her.
“She was such a thoughtful person and an amazing mum so I can’t help thinking, this is her spreading a little Christmas magic at a time when I really needed it.”
Lizbet bought a few tickets in the run up to Christmas and stored them in her purse, which had previously been used by her mother.
But she did not think any further about the valuable scraps of paper until Boxing Day.
Steve Thomson: £105million
Steve Thomson is the ninth-biggest winner in the history of the National Lottery, securing a life-changing sum of money for his young family from Selsey.
The 42-year-old and his wife, who have three school-age children, said they were gob-smacked by their prize, which was only discovered while Mr Thomson waited to be picked up for work three days after the draw was made.
He said: "I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines, the third one just jumped out and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win but didn't know what to do.
"I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour's door, went back to the van - I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack."
Sam Lange: £1.5 million — 1999
Sam Lange could have been cursing her bad luck.
She has used her same lucky National Lottery numbers since the very first draw.
However, on Saturday, she was so busy that she nearly forgot to buy a ticket at all.
Just before the deadline she managed to nip into the main Sainsbury's store in Newhaven to buy one before starting her shift at the supermarket's petrol station.
Hours later her partner Malcolm, 33, rang her at work after spotting her special numbers - 1, 12, 24, 31, 33 and 47, based on family birthdays and a house number, flash up during the draw.
Still shocked, Samantha said: "At first I didn't believe him so I rang my mum to check it was true."
When her mum confirmed the news she went into shock and found it hard to concentrate on the rest of the shift but Malcolm had told her to keep tight-lipped about her news until she finished work.
Both were then terrified they could lose their big win.
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