Mr B was playing Lotto through one of the handy interactive channels – National-Lottery.co.uk or Play by Text.  He has become one of the 4 million plus winners each week on The National Lottery’s range of games. 

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “Well done to Mr B, he has banked this amazing prize with just a few simple clicks – he didn’t even have to pick up a ticket.  If you play interactively we not only check your numbers but also let you know you have won – it couldn’t be easier.  Mr B has landed a spot in The National Lottery millionaires club along with over 2,800 lucky others.”

The National Lottery’s interactive channels, including National-Lottery.co.uk, provide a simple and easy way to play, with no tickets to lose or need to check numbers. With just a few clicks you can have your regular numbers or a Lucky Dip in the draw and you can even set up an online subscription ensuring your numbers are always in it to win it. Interactive winners have the opportunity to release their name, remain anonymous or, like this winner, release some details through partial publicity. 

At National-Lottery.co.uk, players can buy tickets for all of The National Lottery’s draw-based games, including Lotto, EuroMillions and Thunderball Once they have registered and set up an account at National-Lottery.co.uk, they can also play a range of online Instant Win Games.  They can also use the Play by Text service on their mobile phone to enter any of The National Lottery’s draw-based games.

In other Lottery news, a Mystery Thunderball winner, known as Mrs R from Gloucestershire, has banked £500,000 by matching five numbers and the Thunderball in the draw on Saturday 14 January 2012.

Players in the Cardiff area are being urged to check and double-check their unique EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle selection for the chance to become an instant millionaire.

The search is now on to find the owner of the winning ticket which was bought in the Cardiff area. For every EuroMillions line played, UK players automatically receive a EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle selection printed on their ticket. The winning selection on Friday 23 December 2011 was FXV864819 and the lucky ticket-holder has until 11pm on Wednesday 20 June 2012 to make their claim. 

The special Christmas EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw was the finale of Millionaires Month, where 50 new guaranteed millionaires were made between 25 November and Christmas Day.  To date, 44 of the 50 lucky ticket-holders from the month have come forward to claim their prize, with just six prizes outstanding – three from the draw on 25 November* and three from the special Christmas draw.

If no-one comes forward with the winning ticket before the prize claim deadline, then the prize money, plus all the interest the prize has generated, will go to the Good Causes – adding to the £27 billion already raised through sales of lottery tickets since The National Lottery launched in November 1994. 

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “We’re desperate to find this mystery ticket-holder and unite them with their winnings – this amazing prize could really make a huge difference to somebody’s life as they start 2012.

“Being able to guarantee two UK millionaires every week with Millionaire Raffle, plus 25 from the draw on 23 December is fantastic and we’re urging everyone to check their old EuroMillions tickets again or look anywhere a missing ticket could be hiding so that this prize can turn someone into the newest member of the lottery millionaire club.

“Try checking in the pockets of clothing, in wallets, bags and down the back of the sofa. We have the champagne on ice and our fingers crossed that the lucky winner comes forward to claim their win.”

To jog EuroMillions players’ memories, Cannonball by X Factor winners, Little Mix topped the UK singles chart at the time, while Michael Buble was at the top of the album charts with Christmas.

In a local context, the Christmas pantomime season was in full swing with a performance of Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates 2011 on at the New Theatre in Cardiff on the day of the draw.

Anyone who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0845 910 0000. 

Anyone concerned about lost or unchecked tickets may like to consider either setting up a National Lottery Subscription, playing online at www.national-lottery.co.uk or on their mobile phone through Play By Text.  Numbers can be entered in advance and lucky winners are notified online if their numbers come up. For further information call 0845 912 5000 or visit www.national-lottery.co.uk

Former delivery driver Derek, 64, and wife Dawn Ladner, 65, won £958,284 in July 2007 after accidently buying two winning tickets for the same draw earning them two shares of the £2,395,710 jackpot.

The couple presented a luxury hamper full of festive treats to Redruth resident Nathan Thomas, 28, who gave up his kidney, and with it his rugby career, to save his daughter Oceanna who was born with only one kidney.

Undergoing surgery and dialysis within the first week of her life Oceanna has been in and out of hospital ever since. After finding out he was an almost perfect donor match, Nathan didn’t hesitate to give his kidney to his brave daughter.

An avid rugby player for both Redruth Rugby Club and Cornwall U20s, Nathan was advised to hang up his boots after the operation, which took place on 5 October when Oceanna was just six years old.

After spending weeks recovering in the Bristol Children’s Hospital Renal Unit, Oceanna was allowed home just in time for her seventh birthday. Nathan has since set up The Oceanna’s Grand Appeal which raises funds for Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal in support of the Bristol Children’s Hospital. The hamper will be auctioned off in the New Year to raise money for the Appeal.

Nathan said: “We would like to raise as much money for the Wallace & Gromit’s Appeal to say thank you for treating our daughter Oceanna and giving her a better quality of life, and to ensure other children and parents have the support that we had.

“I’d like to thank Derek, Dawn and the National Lottery for their kind gesture.”

Derek and Dawn presented Nathan and Oceanna with the hamper at the Redruth Rugby Club. Derek said:

Derek said: “It gave me great pleasure to help Nathan raise funds for the Wallace & Gromit Appeal. I have known Nathan for a considerable number of years, so it was nice to be able to use my lottery win to help out locally.”

Nicola Masters, director at Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, said: “This is a lovely gesture by the lottery winners. We hope that people will be inspired by Nathan and Oceanna’s story and will bid generously for the hamper to raise valuable funds to help young patients like Oceanna treated at Bristol Children’s Hospital.”

Get your voting brains in gear – election fever’s sweeping Wales!

And it has nothing to do with politicians. There’s no egg-throwing, baby kissing or single transferable votes.

There are no seats up for grabs either – just a chance for one brilliant South Wales cause to enjoy the valuable glare of publicity.

Nudging

So what’s nudging the swingometer this week?

Well, it’s those good folk at the National Lottery and their celeb pals Sara Cox And Rufus Hound.

The DJ and comic are touring the UK to celebrate Lotto funding of good causes and we all have the chance to vote for those we wish to see them visit.

Vote

In Wales the Cox & Hound Hit The Road vote is between the Tenovus Sing for Life Choir and UCAN Productions.

When I voted last night on the dedicated Facebook page - https://apps.facebook.com/cox-and-hound/ – the choir was just edging it. Voting ends tomorrow (Nov 16) and our road-trip heroes will visit the winner this Thursday.

So get down to it! A visit to the choir would see Sara and Rufus singing solo’s; a visit to UCAN will have them appearing in a radio soap. You might find the video useful – click

Did You Know?

• More than £30m is raised each week by National Lottery players for Good Causes across the UK.
• More than 365,000 projects have received funding since The National Lottery began in 1994, from charity and community to education and the environment, from sport and the arts to health and heritage.

Tenovus Sing for Life Choir The choir offers anyone affected by cancer in Wales the chance to come together in a fun, positive and energetic way and focus on something other than their cancer. Research carried out by Cardiff University has shown that the choir singing can have significant benefits on improving the health and wellbeing of those who take part in it, and the choir regularly performs live.

UCAN Productions Working with RNIB Cymru, UCAN aims to increase opportunities for visually impaired children to participate in the arts. This lottery-funded project boosts the confidence and self-esteem of these often isolated young people by challenging the public perceptions of visually-impaired people. UCAN’s current members have written their own radio soap series and need to fill two new roles for the Christmas special – can the stars step up to the challenge?

Three-time Paralympian Karen Butler, originally from Bristol, met The Mall Newsagents owners and long-time National Lottery retailers Mandy and Tony Golledge and while at the store learnt more about what goes into successfully selling National Lottery tickets. In turn, Karen explained the difference that lottery funding has made to her personally.

From left, The Mall retailer Tony Golledge, Paralympian Karen Butler, Mandy Golledge, and Dianne Thompson

Karen, who was born with spina bifida, was introduced to shooting for the disabled  when she visited Stoke Mandeville – the birthplace of Paralympics – during a sports weekend at the age of 16.

She represented Team GB at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and went on to make two further Paralympics appearances in Atlanta and Sydney – and next year, following a 12 year break from the Paralympics, is aiming to make a memorable return in the London 2012 Games.

Karen said: “National Lottery funding has made being a full-time athlete possible for so many people who otherwise would have struggled to reach the top of their sport, while also worrying about how to make a living and support their families.

“To me personally it’s meant that I’ve been able to train in top class venues, work with the best coaches and focus all my efforts on being the absolute best I can be – it’s been invaluable. And meeting Mandy and Tony today has been a fantastic way for me to say thank you on behalf of all the athletes out there who have benefitted from the hard work they do, day in and day out, to sell tickets and raise those all-important funds.”

2012 Olympic and Paralympic Game – South West:
• 23 Pre Games Training Camp agreements reached between the region and National Olympic Committees and National Paralympic Committees: e.g. NOC of Kenya; British Paralympic Association; Malaysia National Sports Institute; Italian Sailing Federation; British Sailing Team; US Sailing; Australian Sailing; etc
• Weymouth and Portland will host the sailing competitions 
• 153 cultural projects have been awarded the Inspire Mark in the region
• Live sites with big screens for fans to watch all the action will be erected in Bristol, Plymouth and Swindon
• ‘Open Weekend 2011’ in June this year saw 26 events taking place that celebrated one year to go to London 2012
• 1464 schools/colleges are registered for the London 2012 Get Set educational programme
• There are over 120 lottery funded athletes from the South West including Laurence Godfrey (archery), Karen Butler (Paralympic shooting) and Anya Tarasiuk (synchronised swimming) from Bristol.

Home-Start Bristol is an independent registered charity that supports struggling families with at least one child under five, living in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The small staff team recruits and trains local volunteers and matches them with local families who need support, and the recent award it received from the National Lottery will enable it to expand the crucial work it does to support more vulnerable families in the local area.

From left, Dianne Thompson, Cody Tunnock, aged one, mum Caroline Tunnock and Home-Start volunteer Zena James who helps the Tunnocks.

The scheme, managed by a board of volunteer trustees, is responsible for raising all of its own funds and is supported by local authorities and grant-making trusts which allow it to provide services to those in need at no cost to the families it helps.

The most recent National Lottery award, granted by the BIG Lottery Fund, will enable the project to expand geographically as it targets specific areas in Bristol identified as deprived wards, as well as helping the charity to increase its essential volunteer base.

Dianne Thompson visited Home-Start’s base in Doncaster Road while she was in Bristol to talk about the difference that National Lottery funding has made to local communities across the city and surrounds. While visiting the area, Dianne will be highlighting the fact that 2,708 projects in Bristol, totalling £346 million, have received National Lottery funding since its launch nearly 17 years ago and that in the last year alone more than £7.2 million was awarded to grant recipients in the city, distributed across 186 awards.

Jenny Harris, Vice-Chair of Home-Start Bristol said: “Parents ask for our help for all sorts of reasons; from feeling isolated, to struggling to cope with a child’s illness or disability, to dealing with a family bereavement, or simply due to the emotional and physical demands of caring for twins or triplets, particularly those born into already large families. 

“The vital support that we get in the form of grants is literally the life-blood of the charity and we wouldn’t be here without it. The National Lottery, through the two fantastic grants that we have now received, has played a massive part in securing the future of what is an essential support tool to the families we help. The most recent award will allow us to expand further and to offer even more support to more families who may have no where else to turn.” 

Dianne said: “It was fantastic to meet the Home-Start team in Bristol and to learn more about the incredible work they do. I’ve heard some heart-warming and also heart-breaking stories today of the struggles that some of the families they help face.

“I’m very proud that National Lottery players have been able to play an important part in helping to expand the charity’s reach and hopefully to increase the number of volunteers they have on hand to offer these vital services.  National Lottery-funded organisations can be life-changing for the people whose lives they touch – and Home-Start Bristol is an important example of that in action.”

The reigning Miss Cornwall, who is from Torpoint, was given the chance to step aboard the luxury Princess 42 yacht at Sutton Harbour Marina in Plymouth. The flybridge motor yacht would set a potential buyer back nearly £500,000, but with £85 million to spend, a potential UK winner would have plenty of spare change.

An £85 million EuroMillions jackpot win would earn approximately £4,774 per day in interest alone – that’s £33,418 per week, £143,219 per month and a mammoth £1,742,500 per year.

And if a local winner was looking for somewhere else to sail their yacht, they could easily afford their very own island in the Caribbean paradise of the Bahamas. For £1.2m you could own Little Hog Cay – a 20 acre island with two of its own 75m white sandy beaches.

Players across the UK will be hoping to continue the UK’s amazing run of EuroMillions luck which has seen no less than 14 EuroMillions jackpots banked on these shores in the last two years.  These winners have a banked a massive £624m between them and of course are led by Colin and Chris Weir.  The couple from Largs sit on top of the exclusive National Lottery Rich List following their £161m EuroMillions jackpot win in July.  All in all UK players have banked a barely believable £2.4 billion since EuroMillions began in February 2004.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “Players across the country have been winning and winning big on EuroMillions for the last two years.  It has been an amazing run of luck which has broken UK lottery records time and time again.  Hopefully October will bring another addition to our Rich List with a massive £85 million cheque.  A EuroMillions win of £85 million could launch you into the exclusive world of the rich and famous – private jets, super yachts and dream cars.

“We urge players to get their tickets early to be in with a chance of winning this huge jackpot.  With EuroMillions now drawn twice a week – on Tuesdays and Fridays – players have more chances to win, as well as boosting returns to the Good Causes in the process.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2011, if you won the entire £85 million jackpot you would become the joint 817th richest person in the country.  An £85 million win would still leave you £5m short of pop legend Robbie Williams’ fortune (£90m). But you could boast of being three times richer than royalty, as Princes William and Harry are only worth £28m

Amazingly £85m worth of £50 notes laid from end to end would cover 265km – that’s roughly the distance from London to Manchester.  If stacked they would be approximately 187 metres high – that’s just under twice the height of Big Ben and around 9 times higher than the Angel of the North

EuroMillions offers a greater range of prizes than any other National Lottery draw, with 13 prize levels in total. In the UK it also includes the Millionaire Raffle which guarantees to create a millionaire on these shores in every draw – that’s two a week.  It costs £2 to play and tickets are available from over 28,500 National Lottery retailers across the UK, online at www.national-lottery.co.uk and via mobile phones using the Play by Text service.

The Daily Express and the Daily Star were among the newspapers to carry the story of a Cardiff cabbie who won just over £1m in EuroMillions.

Yesterday’s national press coverage was bolstered by items in the Welsh media.

The Western Mail, the South Wales Echo and BBC Wales online all enjoyed telling readers about Adam Derbi’s good fortune.

Pleasing

This was hugely pleasing for 35-year-old Adam, a father of five from Rumney, because he’d performed exceptionally well at a press conference to annouce the win.

He, wife Natalia and seven friends and relatives had been invited to Hensol’s Vale Resort by Effective Communication to meet the media.

They did so with good grace and understanding that the resulting coverage would mean decent PR for the National Lottery and thanks from the media who now don’t have to use great resources to track down this particular winner.

Chaired

The Vale gathering was chaired admirably by my Effective colleague Peter Bibby, super-comfortable in the press conference setting.

The props he had arranged included a black London-style cab which please the two TV cameramen and four press photographers who attended.

There are some photos of the media in action on our Facebook page – http://on.fb.me/o2e3F3.

Indeed, Mark Benbow has no plans at all to move away from his lifetime home of Merthyr Tydfil.

A new house, yes – he and wife Lisa could do with that to allow their young family the best possible start in life – but you can bet it won’t be far from Dowlais.

Flag

As the National Lottery people Camelot hosted a press conference yesterday to present the EuroMillions £1m winner to the public, 38-year-old Mark was eager to fly the flag for his home town.

“I was born there, brought up there and love the place and its people,” he said. “There’s no way I’ll be leaving Merthyr.”

It can be an unfashionable thing to do, attach so much passion to a defence of your own town.

Comments

Only this week over in Swansea there’s been far too much negativity from local MP Geraint Davies whose comments may have won his party a few political points but they haven’t done anything to promote the city he apparently represents.

Indeed, they may have been well intentioned comments – but their delivery was ill-judged, simply giving the media a chance to run pointless “dire town” headlines.

So the fact that Mark can be so articulate, humble and upbeat about a town that many find easy to knock shows him up in a very good light.

Read more about Mark and his big win by clicking here.

Miss Swansea Universe with Cyril

Now, Swansea City mascot Cyril the Swan and Miss Universe Swansea 2011 Michaela Morgan hope to bring more luck to the area ahead of a big EuroMillions draw.

Tuesday, June 7, promises to be a special night for lottery players in the UK – EuroMillions guarantees to create 15 millionaires in one evening with a EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw. 

Cyril was joined by 21-year-old Michaela and the Championship Play-Off Trophy at the Liberty Stadium to wish the whole of Swansea luck in the one-off draw.

Michaela, a second year English student at Trinity St David University, Carmarthen, said: “I’m so proud of what the Swans have achieved.

“It’s always a thrill to see somebody from Wales excelling. I wish them all the very best in the Premier League.”

Every week EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle guarantees to create two millionaires – one on Tuesday and one on Friday.  After the record-breaking success of the Christmas Eve draw – which delivered the ultimate present of millionaire status to 25 lucky ticket-holders – the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle promises to transform the summers of 15 lucky players. 

A Swansea resident could be joining the ranks of Premier League football players themselves – jetting off for long sun-filled days of luxury, if they bank one of the amazing £1 million prizes.

Millionaire status could see you jetting off first class from London to New York 100 times, or staying for six months in the exclusive Harlequin Suite at The Dorchester.  You could fly off with 28 friends to the beautiful Caribbean hideaway of Necker Island – at £30,000 a night you could have a month to remember. Or why not treat yourself and 44 of your closest friends to a Celebration Afternoon Tea at The Ritz every day for a year?

A National Lottery spokesperson said, “It is amazing to create two millionaires every week, but to create 15 in one night is something we know really excites our players.  A million pounds would mean you could spend the summer visiting the millionaire playgrounds of the rich and famous, nipping from Monte Carlo, to Venice via Lake Como.  

“EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle is brilliant because it is so simple – just match the Raffle number at the bottom of your ticket and you win a guaranteed £1 million.  Players love special draws like these, where we create a large number of millionaires in one night – and of course they mean more money raised for Good Causes across the UK.”

There have been over 2,600 millionaires or multi-millionaires created by The National Lottery in the past 16 years, and EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle guarantees to boost this number every week.  Since its launch in November 2009 it has created over 100 millionaires, all here in the UK – and with this special draw, 15 lucky winners will immediately join the exclusive lottery millionaires club.

EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle is a UK only game that is part of EuroMillions.  It guarantees to create a millionaire in this country in every EuroMillions draw – which means two millionaires every week – every Tuesday and Friday.  For each EuroMillions line you buy you get a unique Millionaire Raffle number at the bottom of your ticket.  Match the three letters and six numbers and you’ve won £1 million. Remember to also check your numbers in the main EuroMillions draw. EuroMillions tickets in the UK cost £2 and are available from over 28,500 National Lottery retailers across the UK, online at and via mobile phones using the Play by Text service

Players can check to see whether they are a millionaire by checking the results on BBC One, visiting www.national-lottery.co.uk, calling 0845 910 0000, downloading the The National Lottery Official App for iPhone® from the App Store or visiting any National Lottery retailer.

Thanks to National Lottery players more than £25 billion has been raised for Good Causes over the last 16 years – that’s around £28 million every week. Over 350,000 grants have gone to projects large and small, across the arts,  sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors, making a difference to people, places and communities all across the UK. For more information visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk