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Record lottery numbers are drawn

Other News Materials 9 February 2008 02:29 (UTC +04:00)

( BBC ) - The numbers for the biggest jackpot in lottery history - the EuroMillions game - have been drawn.

If it is won by a single ticket-holder, the ?95m (128m euros) pay-out will be the biggest of its kind in the world.

UK Lottery organiser Camelot said retailers were reporting long queues and it expected seven to 10 million tickets to be bought in Britain.

The winning numbers are 17, 28, 30, 38 and 44, while the Lucky Star numbers are 01 and 04.

The likelihood of a ticket-holder winning the prize is about one in 76m.

Larger prizes have been won in the US, but the actual payouts were lower because of taxes or winners opting for smaller one-off lump sums rather than payments over an extended period.

If no-one manages to match all the five main numbers plus the two lucky star numbers to win the EuroMillions jackpot, the ?95m will be shared among the next level of winners.

A spokeswoman for Camelot said it had been a "busy day both in retailers and online".

The countries which take part in EuroMillions are the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland.

The UK's current biggest lottery win is the ?35.4m which Glasgow postal administrator Angela Kelly received in August last year.

Dolores McNamara, from the Republic of Ireland, won ?77m on the EuroMillions on 31 July 2005.

The world's biggest lottery winner is Jack Whittaker, from West Virginia, in the US.

He scooped nearly $315m (?160m) after winning the multi-state Powerball lottery on Christmas Day 2002.

However, he chose to take his winnings in one lump sum of $170m (?86m), rather than having the $315m paid over out over 30 years.

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