The Thomsons won the ninth-biggest jackpot in UK lottery history after matching all five numbers and both Lucky Stars in the draw on 19th November 2019, which also happened to be the National Lottery’s 25th birthday.
Mr. Thomson checked his ticket three days after the draw while waiting for his late-running colleague. Describing the moment he found out, 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.”
Mr. Thomson insists that he wants to stay busy despite the windfall and says he’ll still be on hand to help his business partner get the work done. “Once I am over the shock I will need to keep doing something, I am not the type just to sit still,” he added.
The couple have already started planning what they will do with the money, as have their three children. Their eldest son, 15, is looking forward to getting his own room, while their other son, aged 10, has more ambitious plans and has asked for a Tesla. Mr. Thomson said his daughter, 8, “has her sights firmly set on a pink iPhone.”
The Thomsons currently live in a small terrace house and they are now looking forward to buying a new home. “To be able to give our children a bedroom each is a big thing,” Mr. Thomson said, “so we have been looking for a house.
“We will stay locally but somewhere with some space. I would like to build our own place eventually but we've been looking at houses online for now. We will also support our families by buying them houses.”
His wife, Lenka, originally thought they had won £105,000. She’s now looking forward to visiting her family in Slovakia. “Not only can I treat my family and see them more often,” she said, “but we can also look to have other holidays, perhaps somewhere hot with a beach.”
The couple had already told their family about the big win before they faced the cameras on Tuesday, but they decided to go public to spare themselves the pressure of keeping it a secret. Mr. Thomson said, “It would be so difficult to live a lie and not tell anyone about the win, especially with the fact we can both stop working and move house.”
The Thomsons' £105 million jackpot was the sixth EuroMillions jackpot won in the UK in 2019, continuing a record-breaking year in which UK jackpot winners have benefitted to the tune of more than £600 million. It comes just six weeks after the record for the biggest ever UK jackpot was smashed by an anonymous player who won £170 million on 8th October.