South Wales couple bank £45.5 million EuroMillions prizeLes Scadding and his wife Samantha Peachey-Scadding, from Caerleon in South Wales, have jumped straight into joint first place in The National Lottery Rich List, after winning £45,570,835.50. They banked half of the huge jackpot in the EuroMillions draw on Friday, 6 November 2009.
Les (58) and Samantha (38) quietly celebrated their winnings with a Sunday lunch in their favourite restaurant. Les bought his Lucky Dip ticket in Tesco on Spytty Road in Newport with some groceries on Saturday evening, and decided to check his EuroMillions ticket on the way out. He said, "When I asked the people behind the counter to check the numbers, the machine just printed out a pink slip, telling me to contact Camelot. I thought I might have won around £50,000, and I rushed home to tell Samantha."
Les got back to their house, where Samantha was doing some work at her computer. She immediately checked online their numbers, where it was revealed that two winners in the UK had shared over £90 million.
Les said: "It was a very funny couple of minutes. We just looked at each other while it sunk in, before we got on the phone to Camelot."
However, the couple took the staggering news in their stride, and on Sunday went for lunch at their favourite restaurant, The Priory, in Caerleon, with Samantha’s mother. Les said: "We always go to The Priory, as I know the owner really well, so we wouldn’t have gone anywhere different. We ordered a couple of bottles of Champagne and just had a quiet chat about it all, and tried to let it all sink in."
Les, who has 3 grown-up children from first marriage, is a mechanic, but has worked for many years as a driver for different haulage companies. He is currently out of work, and had been looking for temporary driving contracts until Friday’s incredible win. Samantha runs her own marketing company from home. She said: "There is quite a lot of pressure involved in running your own business, and I’ve been working 12 hour days recently. This win means I can take my foot off the pedal and relax a bit."
Les says his first purchase will replace his Citroen C5 with a Range Rover Sport. The couple also plan to buy a bigger house, but say it will probably be in South Wales, as well as they might buy a holiday home.
Les and Samantha are now joint first in The National Lottery Rich List ahead of two other EuroMillions winners; Glasgow postal worker Angela Kelly who won £35.4m on 10th August 2007 and Brian and Joan Caswell from Bolton who won £24.9million in June.
Improve your chances to scoop Euro Millions jackpot
- 36 single-line entries in every draw for just £5
- 2 less numbers to match for a win
- 1 in 10 chance of a cash prize
- You win even if you match only 1 Main number
- Both Lucky Stars are Guaranteed to Match
- 3,600% better chance of scooping Euro Millions jackpot.
- Also available syndicates for UK lotto & Spanish Superdraws
