From engraved swimming pools to the luckiest balls – 30 years of Camelot Lotto

CAMELOT brought us almost 30 exciting years of National Lottery jackpot fun – but now the company's numbers have risen.

By next one On Thursday, Allwyn bosses will take control of the big-money game, which has brought in thousands of happy players millionaires.

9

Since the launch of the lottery under Camelot on November 19, 1994, a whopping £178 BILLION has been spent on lottery tickets, scratch cards and online games.

That's enough to fund the NHS for a whole year or repair our roads for over a decade.

The new operator will make no immediate changes to games, with favorites such as Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball, Set For Life, scratch cards and online instant wins still offering prizes.

Mike Ridley looks at Camelot's record-breaking reign in numbers.

12 13 21 23 33 36: Winning figures sheet metal worker Roy Gibney had the bottom of his swimming pool in Grimsby tiled after landing £7.5 million in July 1998.

£5.5 million given to charities and good causes by Ray and Barbara Wragg from Sheffield, which won £7.6 million in January 2000.

7 IT experts at Hewlett Packard in Liverpool scored the biggest syndicate win in November 2009, sharing £45.5m on EuroMillions – £6.5m each.

133 cardholders shared £16.3 million in January 1995 – £122,510 each.

£10,000 on chest jobs by Sarah Cockings, a social work student from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, who won £3.4 million in 2005.

9

9

£12,000 of part of her family's £1million award in 2016 paid for Becca Brown's IVF treatment. Becca, from Nottingham, gave birth to daughter Ethel in 2020.

£1,000,000 given to a multiple sclerosis charity by Peter Congdon of Truro, Cornwall, in memory of his late wife Rosemary, an MS sufferer of 30 years. Peter won £13.5 million in 2015.

£20,000 bought a half-acre field for Faye and Richard Davies' dog, Lucy, because the animal was terrified of people and other puppies. The couple, from Brecon, Powys, won £1 million in 2018.

£250,000 almost lost by Chris Jackson from Southend, who was homeless and sleeping in a car when he claimed a Thunderball jackpot in August 2000, days before it expired.

9

22,000,000 watched Noel Edmonds present the first draw on TV – about 40% of the population. 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22 were the winning numbers, Bonus Ball 10.

£5,874,778 in cash was driven in a security van to BBC TV Center as prize money for the first draw

7 shared the jackpot, £839,254 each

£1 Ticket price for the first 19 years. In 2013 it rose to £2. EuroMillions costs £2.50 per line.

895 pounds/406 kg Weight of the original pulling machines – named Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin. They cost £200,000 each.

£7,043,868 Jackpot in week two, Saturday November 26, 1994, when the first millionaires were created. Four winners received £1,761 million each.

9

9

9

9