What would your first couple of purchases be after winning a £3.6 million EuroMillions prize? A new car, perhaps a posh car or booking up a dream holiday? For Helen and Lee Kuchczynski from Milnthorpe, near Morecambe, England it was something rather less spectacular.
Their win came in the July 12 EuroMillions draw. They didn’t scoop the top prize of £195.7 million but did win the second-tier prize for matching the five main balls and one of the two Lucky Stars.
Helen told how until a few months ago, she only played EuroMillions once a week. Then she decided that the couple needed their luck to change so decided to “go for it” and play more draws. However, she never believed their luck would “change quite so dramatically.”
With the jackpot cap reached, the second-tier prize was higher than usual. In all, the couple won £3,665,079.10. Helen admitted that when she checked an app to see if she’d won anything, she expected to see a balance of 40p not over £3 million.
At first, Helen thought it might be a scam or the decimal point was in the wrong place. Her daughter checked and the big win really had happened.
It was still early in the morning and the claims line wasn’t open yet. The pair sat there giggling and drinking what seemed like endless cups of tea. Finally, the claim line opened and the win was confirmed.
Her husband was busy driving his HGV van while all this was happening. Helen phoned her husband and told him it was best to pull over as she had some shocking news to tell him. He did so but the news, although shocking, was of the good kind.
Helen was soon to celebrate her 58th birthday. The plan was to order in a Chinese takeaway, while sat in front of the television. Instead, she bought a “whopping detached house with all the mod cons.” The EuroMillions winner joked that it even has electric gates.
Lee has bought an Audi RS4 Avant and retired from his driving job just hours after finding out about their win. His wife has decided to carry on working as a financial administrator but may cut her hours down.
What were their first purchases though? Well, Lee got a new back-scratcher and his wife bought two bags of cat litter. She joked, “Not sure if that is living the high life.”
The next EuroMillions draw is on Tuesday July 26 with a £22 million jackpot. The same night sees the SuperEnalotto top prize at a record 245.3 million euros. Over in the USA, the Mega Millions jackpot is up to a massive $790 million.
