It was only the third time they played the game
Includes video report
A couple from Cambridgeshire, UK, who won Friday's £101 million (US$157.7 million) Euro Millions jackpot have been named as Dave and Angela Dawes.
The lucky pair were the only winners of the draw and have claimed the UK's third-biggest lottery prize.
Mr. Dawes, 47, is a shift supervisor at Premier foods while his 43-year-old partner is a volunteer at the British Heart Foundation.
The third time was the charm for the couple — they had only played EuroMillions twice before.
The couple, who have been together for four years, were planning to get married in Portugal next year, so the windfall means they can now enjoy the wedding of their dreams. Angela was a divorcee who opted to take Dave's surname after she met him.
First on the couple's shopping list is a new diamond engagement ring for Angela, followed by a house in Portugal and a Rolls Royce.
A Chelsea season ticket and house near the football team's ground are also on the list for fan Mr. Dawes.
"I'm not worried about getting a box — I want to stand with the real fans and watch my team play," he said.
"I'd also love to live near the ground and have Frank Lampard come over for a cup of tea!"
The couple also plan to give a proportion of the winnings to charity.
Mr. Dawes described how they discovered their win. "We were watching TV and the EuroMillions draw show came on so we kept watching, not thinking we would win anything," Dawes explained.
"We got our tickets out and watched in shock as, one by one, the numbers came up on the line I'd chosen. We couldn't believe it! It was too late to call Camelot so I kept the ticket on me all night until the morning but we didn't sleep a wink."
The biggest-ever Euro Millions prize was a £161 million (US$251.4 million) jackpot won by Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, Scotland, earlier this year.
The decision over whether to go public after winning such a huge amount has always been controversial. The Weirs were besieged by sackloads of begging letters after they gave television and newspaper interviews and even went into hiding for a while.
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Big Congratz to the UK couple
£101M is a whole lot of Cha Ching
It never ceases to amaze me that people don't claim their winnings anonymously when they have the option to.BIG mistake!
Congratulations,anyway.
Nice story, seem like a nice couple, happy for em. Did Joe the Plumber move to England? Just kidding. Sure looks like him though. Heard he's running for office somewhere.
Only the third time they played? Holy moly. Should have said it was the first time they ever played like someone here suggested - just to piss people off, lol.
And what's the deal with her taking his last name after she just met him? Man, that woulda scared the hell outta me. I'da been headin fer the hills when I first heard that. And I'm already in the hills.
They seem like nice people though and I hope the beggars don't make their life miserable now.
I need to remember not to take a big gulp while reading your posts. You always crack me up.
Well thank ya kindly, VAHopeful.
I like people from Virginia except for them troopers that hide along 81 North just north of Abingdon.
They're a bunch of bastages.
Congrats to the lucky couple. Enjoy.
Congrats to Dave and Angela Dawes!
They should have remained anonymous!
The Greed of Envy Entitled Crowd will descend upon them!
Hi LPers. I want to play the Euromillions but there is something I am unsure of. Is the website for buying tickets legit? Is it legal (American law) to buy the Euromillions tickets via internet? If you know or have had expereince with this please let me know via this medium.
Joe the Plumber actually has an exploratory comittee to run for either the House or Senate, I forgot which one. I think he holds some small public office now, or at least already ran for one after the Elections.
Congrats to the winners hopefully i can get lucky wednesday night!
Best wishes to you on Wednesday nite, but it is time for Pennsylvania to have a big winner!
I have played for 8 years and still nothing and these guys hit it big on their third try? fate is cruel.
As long as I am on a budget lifestyle I will play the lotto. I'll die trying.
Congrats to the nice couple.
What did I tell you, I just this in a UK newspaper!
And her teenage son Steven claimed his mother abandoned him when she walked out on the family to start a new life.
Congrats to the winners! Best of luck to them in the future.
We get along fine Louise.
I just gotta learn to catch you before you get to that 4th or 5th glass of wine.
LOL.
majority of winners is like majority of players, no fing clue about anonymously and Why they should do it
i think winning all that money makes "stupid people" act just like a deer in the headlights does.
they just sit their, looking at amount of money, and dont really understand their about to be run the f over , once they go public, BAM, beggers, beggers, beggers
hell the lottery can give you option up front. like in euro zones without the need of the lawyer like in majority of states
, and they Sure go public, wtf is wrong with these players. , cletu is right, it never ceases to amaze me ether.
and they said they give money to lot of their friends, good lord these people are just asking for beggers.
i just want the money if i won , i don't want the beggers, and anyone to ever bug me for my money. why do people do this to them self's,
lottery winners= free atm withdraws to everyone else.
thro i guest if you want to market your self, for say a reality tv show, go on , go public, public loves drama at your cost.
I had a guy tell me that he has the right to take my stuff if he wants to ........... so these people should have remained anonymous !!!!!!!!!!
You need to have something waiting on him when he feels like exercising his "rights".
I'd like to know if they have a confiscatory gift tax in England like we do here that would make it almost inpossible to give millions to other people without giving another humongous "gift" to the government.
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These people are not going to do anything good with the money. I don't think they deserve to win . Again life is not fair.
i like to point out, how much bs the very idea a gift tax is
1 if said person has millions to give away, their a very good chance, the money was already taxed by irs the first time
lottery winner who wants to just give moneys of has already taxed money in states, just makes it clear as day its high way robbery.
same thing to death tax
its just double taxing by govt, and is unamerican as it can get,Double taxation
then again, it started thanks to Double taxation agiant the rich, and their companys
aka: business is are often also subject to double taxation , as they are taxed on their income"profits" as a legal entity and then again at the individual level when they pay distributions to their shareholders"Dividend tax"
and you know what's even sader, sense the majority of billioners get money form dividend of companys they own, the max rate being 15%, they say the rich pay less then 35% its more around 20%
its such bull, the companys making billions pay 35% Corporate Income Tax Rate- , then share holders pay max 15%, and then they spin it saying rich don't pay their fair share in meda, only reporting the math of THE dividend income they taxed as % of rich pay in total tax rate ratio
, they often pay less then 20% , blah blah blah is their lies.
their idiots at math. and liers.
lucky not everyone a giant ahole like american dems are in congres.
,anyway back on topic thro, these people have the money to run and hide, so good luck to them rofl
Congratulations on your huge, single ticket, EM jackpot windfall Dave!
Hum, unmarried, and the only person's name appearing on the check is Dave's name! So, now I wonder why two people were interviewed by the lottery headquarters (they may have used poor judgement).
The government is a greedy bitch. She wants a piece of everything, and won't let you generously give cash or property to your friends and family without taxing that you have already paid taxes on. Double taxation.
Roger that.
What I can't fathom though is how the hell we let them get away with this kind of highway robbery. When did this gift tax happen? Were we all sleeping? Was it done in secret?
I know democrats love high taxes but I think a majority of Americans would be against this outrageous abuse of taxation.
do they breed em stupid in the UK or what? you can claim anonymous over there. yet after that last pair won £138M or so and promptly went into hiding a week after going public. this dubious pair of philanthopists come public.
wonder who they stole the ticket off? an 80 mother in a nursing home?
It's because most of us will never be in a position to pay the gift tax, so it goes under our radar. I think you can gift up to $13,000 a year to a person without you or the recipient paying any taxes. And you can give as many people as you want up to $13,000 a year without paying a gift tax, until it adds up to some multi-million dollar limit. I don't remember if the limit is per year, or a life-time limit. I think you can combine 5 years of giving someone $13,000, and hand them 65,000 without paying the gift tax, but if you give them anything else (cash or merchandise) during the next 5 years, you pay the gift tax on that. Something like that. I'm sure there are accountants around that can correct me if I'm wrong. But, how many of us ever have more than $13,000 to give to anyone?
Hmmm, can you avoid the gift tax on sharing large sums by carting everyone you plan to share with to the lottery office when you claim it and tell them "Mama gets 2%, my brother gets 1%," etc.? Like it was an office party sharing the win?