A Chat With First Ever National Lottery Winners
One of the UK’s first lottery millionaires reveals how she changed her life after winning £2.7m. She advises winners on how to deal with the change.
In two days marks the 25-year anniversary of the National Lottery. To celebrate, the Guidance found the original winners of the game to see what they are doing today.
Facts about the first ever game
The first draw was broadcast live on the BBC on 19 November 1994 and hosted by Noel Edmonds and Anthea Turner.
The first number drawn was 30. This was followed by 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22. This was long before the relatively recent addition of numbers 50 to 59.
The bonus ball was 10. It cost £1 per line and the draw was watched by 22 million people. That’s approximately 40 per cent of the British population at the time!
It has expanded rapidly since with a £71 billion in prize money being handed out to UK prize winners. Approximately 5,500 millionaires and multi-millionaires have been made.
Meet the earliest National Lottery winners – Elaine Thompson
Elaine Thompson won £2.7m in 1995 and now advises other lottery winners. Thompson is from Newcastle and scooped the jackpot in her late 30s.
On Saturday 9 December 1995, she and her husband, Derek, won £2.7million – making them the 53rd winners of the National Lottery.
She said: ‘I was sitting with my children watching the television and when the lottery numbers came up, I recognised the numbers and said we’ve won a tenner but after properly checking my ticket, I realised we had won millions.’
After finding out about the win, Elaine, now 63, said no one would actually stay on the phone long enough to hear her exciting news. She explains…
‘I rang my mother-in-law who screamed and then hung up. Then, I rang a friend who runs a pub and she said she was busy and put the phone down. I ended up going to my neighbours.’
What did she do with the winnings?
Interestingly, the first thing Elaine did with her winnings was go to Marks and Spencer and buy a cotton jumper in every colour. She they proceeded to throw the receipt away so she couldn’t return them.
Additionally, Elaine gave a million pounds to her brother after winning. She admits that whilst she didn’t invest the money, her husband is an accountant so looking after money carefully wasn’t too much of an issue.
Elaine and Derek now give advice to lottery winners. Furthermore, the first thing they say to new millionaires is ‘take a holiday’. Elaine frequently visits new winners for a few days, including someone who recently won more than £100million. However, she doesn’t offer financial advice, only lifestyle advice. Elaine said: ‘I tell them don’t make rash decisions, the decisions you make on the day won’t be the ones you want to make in three months.’
