We’ve taken a look back at some of the biggest winners in our region
Huge sums have been won on the lottery(Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Winning the lottery is a dream held by many. With a lifechanging amount of money in your bank account, the world would be your oyster. You could quit your job and splash the cash, or put it away for a rainy day.
But for some, that dream has become a reality. Some of the UK’s biggest lottery winners have been right here in Merseyside.
The ECHO recently reported that someone in Merseyside is currently a millionaire and doesn’t know it yet. A EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker prize worth £1m has yet to be claimed from a ticket bought in the city in February.
One lucky winner from the EuroMillions draw on Valentine’s Day, February 14 2025, has still to check their ticket and claim their prize.
However, it isn’t the first National Lottery winner to come from the region. The ECHO previously reported that Freddy Powell, from Crosby, was the first winner from Merseyside when he scooped £1.35m in April 1995.
In April 1996, Mark English from West Derby won £4.2m when he gave up his jobs as a part-time steward at Liverpool FC and factory worker at Stoves in Prescot. But it was Mossley Hill carpenter David Ashcroft who became the region’s biggest winner, having scooped a £12.3m jackpot back in 1997.
With tonight’s EuroMillions jackpot a staggering £140m, we’ve taken a look back at some of the biggest winners in our region.
Ben and Leanne Woods
Ben Woods, from Rock Ferry, scooped £2,485,736, with a lucky dip ticket his mum bought him in 2004 aged 23. After a few years spent travelling abroad, the former Merseyrail worker settled down “to a normal life” just three miles up the road from his family home.
Mystery winner
A Mystery Lotto winner, known only as Mr A from Merseyside, became a millionaire without ever touching a ticket. The lucky winner was one of two jackpot winners in the draw and banked a staggering £1,942,659.
Tony Dodd
Tony Dodd from Wirral won the £2.4m Lotto jackpot when he was 67. He celebrated by getting a knee replacement operation.
Emma Cartwright
In 2009, a seven-person syndicate scooped £45,570,835.50. The winners, dubbed the Magnificent Seven, all worked for Hewlett Packard carrying out IT work at a BT office in Liverpool.
The syndicate included John Walsh, 57, James Bennett, 28, Sean Connor, 32, Alex Parry, 19, Emma Cartwright, 23, Ceri Scullion, 35 and Donna Rhodes, 39, who pocketed £6.5 million each.
George and Beryl Keates
George and Beryl Keates from Southport scooped a National Lottery jackpot of more than £3.5m on their 10th attempt at the lucky draw back in 2012.
A group of ten A4e workers in Kirkby scooped £28m between them in a EuroMillions draw in July 2013. Bosses then had to frantically try and find replacements afterwards as they all quit their jobs immediately.