LONDON: A married couple from western England were revealed on Thursday as Britain’s biggest-ever lottery winners after scooping a jackpot of nearly 185 million ($230 million, 218 million euros) in the EuroMillions draw.

Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, called the unprecedented win “huge for us” as they claimed the record-breaking sum of 184,262,899 with a ticket of randomly selected numbers earlier this month.

“It was amazing but also surreal,” said Joe, 49, who works at a communications company, at a press conference with his wife as they recounted the momentous moment they discovered online their May 10 win.

“I looked at the amount. I put the phone down and I picked the phone up again and I looked at the amount again!” The early-riser somehow contained his excitement enough to let his wife keep sleeping until her alarm sounded — and then relayed the news.

“He was like, ‘I’ve got a secret to tell you’,” recalled Jess, 44. “I was like ‘don’t be stupid!,” she said, adding they initially thought it was a joke and “obviously wrong”.

The couple, like many other Britons, have been struggling through the country’s growing cost-of-living crisis and plan to share their newly-amassed fortune with friends and family.

“This is an amazing thing that’s happened to us, and this means it’s an amazing thing that’s happened to our family and we want to share that with them,” said Jess, who runs a hair salon with her mother and sister.

“Even though it’s wonderful and exciting, it’s also a massive relief for everybody that’s been struggling with all their bills.

“We’re like every normal family... so it’s just a huge relief.”

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2022