If you see someone looking incredibly smug in the next few days, this could be the reason.
The winner of last week's £84.4 million (US$122.7 million) Euro Millions jackpot came forward on Sunday — but has decided to remain anonymous.
It is not even known whether they are a man, woman or a syndicate.
By choosing to keep their identity secret, the record-breaking winner is likely to avoid the pleas that inevitably flood in to those who declare their wins.
But with such an enormous sum of money suddenly coming into their lives, they might have trouble keeping the windfall quiet for long.
Their jackpot smashes the previous record for a UK winner set by Nigel Page, 43, and his girlfriend Justine Laycock, 41, from Cirencester, who won £56 million in the Euro Millions draw in February.
Friday's win will have made a single ticket holder the 789th richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List — on a par with pop star Robbie Williams and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.
It also makes them richer than former James Bond star Sir Sean Connery, who has £80m.
A spokesman for National Lottery operator Camelot said last night, "The lucky ticket holder(s) of this prize have taken the decision to remain anonymous and therefore no further details about this prize, or the location of where the winning ticket was purchased, will be revealed."
Mark Dampier, of financial advisors Hargreaves Lansdown, also had some advice on keeping their identity secret.
Dampier said, "The only way to keep it completely quiet would be not to give up your job, not to tell any relatives at all, and not to change your lifestyle. Parking a Ferrari outside your council house would be a giveaway."
He said they should also bank at a branch far away from their home, to avoid a cashier spilling the beans.
The five winning numbers in Friday's draw were 1, 17, 31, 43, and 47 with Lucky Star numbers 2 and 3.
Earlier this year, builder and self-confessed "white van man" Mr. Page, 43, and his estate agent partner Miss Laycock, 41, celebrated their winnings in front of TV cameras.
She said yesterday, "We are thrilled to pieces.
"The last couple of months have been amazing for us. We want to wish the new titleholders the best of luck."
The couple, who married over Easter, swiftly moved into a five-bedroom Cotswolds mansion, which included a 25-seat cinema, indoor pool, sauna and steam room, just down the road from model Liz Hurley. They shared a total jackpot of £112 million with a ticket bought in Spain.
Euro Millions is played in the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, but British winners have been particularly fortunate — six have won more than £237 million between them since the competition began.
Bolton gardener Brian Caswell collected £24.9 million in June 2009, while in November, Les Scadding and his wife Sam from South Wales and the Lucky Seven syndicate from Liverpool each banked £45.5 million.
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Sure would be nice to remain completely anonymous but I think it would cause suspicion about the integrity of the process when you have as many money-hungry crooks in government as we do here.
If you don't have to announce who won, it could be anybody, couldn't it? It could be the Governor's brother-in-law for all we would know. I can see both sides of the argument for and against anonymity.
The UK's got it right...they allow anonymity and lottery winnings are tax free. Congrats to the winner(s)!
Knowing the store where the winner was sold is not fool proof. If one knew the numbers being picked in advance, they could buy their ticket at any store.
A few years ago an Indiana lottery security person was caught after telling his buddies the store that had the roll of scratch-offs with the grand prize so they could go there and buy the whole roll. If they hadn't argued about how to split up their loot, they might had never been caught.
Just stick with the multi-state games, states probably watch each other to make sure no one is cheating.
Congrats, to the winner! I can understand why they claimed anonymously. This way they can avoid the press and avoid people looking for a handout.
Congratulations BIG non-taxed jackpot winner!
Anonymity. As it should be. Congrats!
Are there states where they pick numbers in advance? I hope not , I've already lost so much faith in my state. I can see your point about the scratchers. I hope you win big RJOH!
There are no states that pick their official numbers in advance but if someone wanted to cheat, they would have to buy their tickets and know the numbers likely to be drawn before the drawing. I assume all the games I play are honest or I wouldn't play them.
i read the same indiana story, but how could the lottery security person know where the jackpot roll of scratchers is sent? I thought they send them out randomly. Can you imagine if people who work for lottery knowing the store and roll where a winning ticket is sent? They may not be allowed to buy it themselves, but then can tell anyone to buy them. Probably succeeded many times.
I thought they send out randomly, or does lotto director say: Let's send the 5-million-dollar ticket to the poor 'hood. It will make a good news story, instead of wasting it on a store in a rich zip code, where rich folks may win.
Claiming anonymously is good for the winner but bad for the lottery itself...they like to have names & faces attached to big prizes...makes good stories and encourages more people to play. Sweet win though!
I personally have no problem publicly.
As I remembered the story, ticket rolls are sent out randomly but for security are recorded where they're delivered and the information about prizes on the rolls is on a separate and secure list which security doesn't normally have access to but while investigating another game the security person saw the list for that game with the jackpot and roll number. He checked to see where the roll was delivered and told his buddies.
I can't be anonymous if I win the Powerball, but I will still take it!
Only wish it was ME!!! WTG!!
They allow anonymity here as well but tax is 15% :((((((
It's probably not exactly like that, but there's no doubt in my mind that, in Florida at least, they know exactly where they're sending those to. It's no secret that in Miami, you're better off NOT buying a scratch-off.
I would have claimed it right away, because the European Economy is in very big trouble!!!!!!!!!!!!
Find a good Tax Haven!
How does a store know they sold a winner when the winner doesn't come forward and tell people about it? Because the lottery said the store sold a winner? If the lottery said the store sold the winner, why would you need to ask the store? Because you don't believe the lottery? Do you see a problem with your idea?
The problem with having security is that you have to trust them with too much information. Part of the validation process is in verifying that the winning ticket was bought at the store that had the winning ticket, so the lottery has to have that information available. The trick is in tracking the winning tickets and being able to access that information, but not having that information acessed improperly.
The actual details will vary, but it would go something like this. Rolls with high value tickets are printed and given an identifying number that is recorded. Standard rolls of tickets with the typical random mix of low value winners are printed separately, then packaged with an ID number. The special roll(s) is then packaged with its own identifying number, which is recorded. That package is then placed with the other packages and all packages get a new ID number in an automated process. There is now a computer record identifying the package containing the high value ticket(s), but no individual knows that informatioin without accessing the database. This process can theoretically be repeated an unlimited number of times as lots of packages are combined and mixed, before being sent out for delivery.
When the individual packages are sent out for delivery they would be selected at random, and the package ID and retailer would be logged in a separate database. At this point you would need to know information from two separate databases in order to know where the winning ticket was sent. Info from the first database tells which package has then winner, and info from the 2nd database tells where that package was sent.
Assuming security works the way it should, nobody accesses the database in an improper manner.
When a ticket is presented as a winner the security team would work backwards to validate the ticket. The ticket will tell what roll it came from and they'd check the 2nd database to see if that roll's package was sent to that retailer. That query would be for the retailer, asking if the particular roll was sent there, and the result would simply be a yes or no. Assuming it was, a separate team would then access the first database to see if that package was supposed to contain a winning ticket. Queries to the database would all be by package ID and the result returned would be the ID of the roll in the package. The database should not normally support a query by roll ID.
Done properly, it would require several people to access the information necessary to know ahead of time where a winning ticket was sent. That would require either a conspiracy between those people or tricking people into revealing information. Of course the latter is the weakness, since they have to access the information at some point. I don't recall the details of the Indiana incident, but the security person (the director of security, if IIRC) got others to access the information by claiming he was investigating possible fraud. In the end he wasn't able to cover his tracks, and that's part of the backup to the basic security protocols. If all access to the database is logged it should be possible for an independent 3rd party to see who accessd what information and when they accessed it. Accessing certain information before a ticket is presented as a winner would indicate the possibility of fraud and should be a violation of policy that is punishable by termination, even if it doesn't lead to prosecution.
Being anonymous and having the money tax-free is fine,
but what I want to know is
IS THIS AN ANNUITY OR LUMP-SUM PRIZE?
Love when smart people win. Congratulations and happy retirement!
Its a lump sum tax free prize, the UK lottery doesn't pay in annuity.
Only 15%? Tax is more than twice that, here.
Hehe that's in Greece. For Greeks to pay 15% tax is as for Americans to pay 105%
Now that's a novel idea for us to consider over here.