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Less than 20 people in the UK have won lottery prizes of more than £100 million – here’s what they spend their winnings on
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Those lucky enough to win the jackpot on the lottery will know from the moment their numbers were called that their lives will never be the same again.
One ticket holder from Ireland scooped a record-breaking €250m (£208m) in the Euromillions Lottery jackpot on Tuesday, after nobody won the jackpot in the draw last week.
Most of us have planned what we would do in the dream situation of winning millions in the lottery, from exotic holidays to retiring early.
But what actually happens after the adrenaline rush of realising you’ve picked the lucky numbers?
People have spent their money in the past taking their pets on private jets or having a celebrity chef to come and cook Christmas lunch, says Andy Carter Winner’s Adviser at Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery in the UK.
Mr Carter is the main point of contact for those who have won the big bucks in the lottery in the UK.
He visits the winners, validates their claim, organises payment and talks them through their next steps to make sure they have the support and advice they need.
But the first piece of advice Mr Carter gives winners is to take some time away, take a holiday and let it sink in. He explained the winnings are paid in one lump sum, meaning it can be very overwhelming.
“It’s a huge amount of money, it’s a big shock for people and they just need to sort of take their time on it,” he told The Independent.
“You went to bed with your life as it was, and you’ve woken up and won £200m. That amount of money is beyond questions of whether or not you at work, or whether you pay the mortgage or not.
“That is about generational wealth,” he added.
“The people who won this money will be able to help out their great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren who haven’t even been born yet.”
In the weeks after winning life-changing amounts of money, Mr Carter makes sure winners have access to legal advice, financial advice and well-being advice.
“We make sure they have access to other lottery winners as well. If you’ve won all this money, the best thing you can do is go and have a cup of tea with someone else who’s won because they’re the people that will truly understand,” he said.
Less than 20 people in the UK have won lottery prizes of more than £100 million, Mr Carter explained.
Financial advice is vital for people who have never had to handle this extortionate amount of money.
Most people spend their lives making financial decisions on paying off the mortgage, retiring or buying a house.
But lottery winners are suddenly burdened with making huge financial decisions.
“Everything you’ve ever known about money has changed,” Mr Carter said.
“People sit around in pubs across the country thinking what they would do if they won. But when you do win it becomes slightly more serious, and people do probably more conservative things than they perhaps thought they would do,” he added.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t advise people to enjoy their winnings, celebrate and tick off bucket list items.
Allwyn partners with a concierge service that can arrange bucket list items for winners. They can arrange meetings with celebrities, grand proposals, holidays and arranging private jets.
“You don’t want to look back on it in years to come and think: I didn’t make the most of it,” he said.
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Faster MRI scans could help end the “postcode lottery” of dementia diagnosis by cutting costs and making the scans more widely available, a study has suggested.
Brain scans help diagnose dementia alongside memory tests and blood tests, but because MRI scans are expensive, very few patients are offered them.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have developed a way of running the brain scans to achieve the same results in a third of the time – potentially doubling the number of dementia scans able to be done in a day and lowering the cost.
Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “While MRIs aren’t the only way to diagnose dementia, very few people with concerns about their cognitive health are offered one as part of the diagnosis process, mainly because they are expensive and not widely available.
“These faster MRIs, which take less than half the time of standard scans, could help end this postcode lottery in dementia diagnosis, cut costs and potentially give more people access to them.”
There are currently estimated to be 982,000 people with dementia in the UK, but more than a third of people with the condition do not have a diagnosis. One in four people have to wait two years before getting help for dementia symptoms and starting medication.
Emerging treatments such as lecanemab and donanemab require an MRI scan before starting the medication, and for safety monitoring during the course of treatment.
Reducing the cost of scanning would also contribute to lowering the total cost of delivering these treatments.
Professor Nick Fox, at UCL’s Institute of Neurology, said: “As more treatments that can slow or change the course of dementia are being developed, it’s important to make sure MRI scans are available to everyone. This is because people living with dementia often need an MRI scan as part of their diagnosis before they can access these treatments.
“To help make this possible, our team carried out the first study looking at how new imaging techniques – called parallel imaging – could speed up MRI scans in clinics. Their goal is to move closer to a future where every person with dementia can get a diagnosis through a scan.”
The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, aimed to understand the reliability of fast MRI scans compared to standard-of-care clinical scans.
Researchers at UCL scanned 92 people aged between 50 and 90 years old as part of their routine clinical assessment.
The accelerated scans were updated to run in six minutes, 29 seconds, in comparison to the traditional scan which takes 17 minutes, 39 seconds.
Three neuroradiologists, who weren’t aware whether they were looking at fast or standard scans, compared the results.
The team found that the quicker scans, which reduced time in the scanner by 63 per cent, were as reliable as the standard scans for diagnosis and visual ratings.
Researchers will now build on their early results by making sure the approach works across different types of MRI machines, so it can benefit as many hospitals and clinics as possible.

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The holder of the winning ticket for a EuroMillions jackpot of €250m (£213m) has come forward, the Irish National Lottery has said.
It said the winning ticket was sold by a retailer in County Cork.
It added that the name of the shop which sold the winning ticket would be announced on Friday.
It is said to be the largest ever EuroMillions jackpot to be won in Ireland.
The winning numbers were 13, 22, 23, 44, 49, Lucky Stars 3 and 5.
"We are absolutely thrilled to have heard from our EuroMillions winner," Irish National Lottery spokesperson Emma Monaghan said.
"At this point, our priority is to give them the necessary time and space to make arrangements and let this life-changing news sink in."
The company said no other details will be revealed at this stage.
The EuroMillions jackpot is capped once it reaches €250m.

Gardaí commenced an investigation into the alleged attempted arson of the property in Drogheda, County Louth.
A video of what was thought to be a lion was posted on social media and a report was made to Gardaí (Irish police) on 29 October.
Former Kilkenny hurler is jailed for five-and-a-half years for defrauding people by falsely claiming he had cancer.
In 1985, the Kerry native founded the charity known today as Focus Ireland which supports the homeless across Ireland.
Asylum seekers who are working may be charged up to €238 (£208) per week to cover the cost of their accommodation.
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(KMDL-FM) Tonight, around 10 o'clock, high school football games will wrap up, and fans will head home across Louisiana. Also, at that time, the Mega Millions multi-state lottery will hold its Friday drawing, and, just like in Friday night football, we're leaning on the metrics to predict whether we'll get a winner.
In football, there are all kinds of statistics you can look at when it comes to making a prediction. In lottery games like Mega Millions and Powerball, you don't really have the luxury of expanded statistics. But some historical perspectives might help you choose the winning numbers for your "life-changing" jackpot.
READ MORE: Map Pinpoints Where Lottery Winners Live in Louisiana
READ MORE: Most Commonly Chosen Winning Lottery Numbers in Louisiana
For example, in the articles above, you can read about which numbers are most often drawn as winners. Or you can see where most of the winning tickets sold in Louisiana are sold. I will give you a hint on that last one; don't read too much into it unless you understand where people live in Louisiana.
But there is one statistic that I have very seldom seen reported. It's probably because the math is a bit flaky even for me, who loves flaky math when it comes to the lottery. Instead of focusing on what single numbers show up regularly in winning drawings, we decided to take another tack to predict when Mega Millions or Powerball would pay off.
Here is some historical perspective for you to consider: the last time a Mega Millions jackpot was won was June 27th of this year. How many drawings have taken place in the Mega Millions game since that winner was drawn?
I didn't expect you to know; I actually had to look it up myself. When they draw tonight, it will be the 38th drawing since the game has produced a jackpot winner. This breaks a Mega Millions record for the largest number of drawings between jackpots. The previous record was 37, and that happened in 2021 when the game gave away a jackpot prize of over $1.05 billion.
We did the math using our own data from decades of writing and researching the lottery, and based on our findings, the average number of "drawings" between jackpot wins for Mega Millions and Powerball is 39. So, based on our "math," Mega Millions should get a jackpot winner either tonight, Friday. Or, on Tuesday, when the game draws again.
So, if you were going to spend the $5 on a ticket to play Mega Millions our advice would be to spend it tonight or on Tuesday and make sure that you purchase your ticket within 50 miles of Interstate 10. That's not an opinion that is based on "previous occurrences" or mathematical probability.
By the way, the only other lottery game that is even more due to get a winner than Mega Millions is Lotto from the Louisiana Lottery. That game has a jackpot prize of over $3.5 million, and I would not be surprised if there wasn't a jackpot winner sold for that game on Saturday, in addition to a big win in Mega Millions tonight.
Please remember that even though we have loads of facts and figures that seem to make playing the lottery a "sure thing," it is far from it. Most lottery tickets wind up costing you money, so only play with what you can afford to lose. If you do have a gambling problem, get help. It's free to call 1-877-770-STOP (7867). That's our state's gambling help hotline. It's a free call, and the services they offer are offered at no cost to you or your family. Good Luck.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Breaking news for Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties
There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery, pushing the estimated jackpot for Saturday’s drawing to $467 million.
There were also no tickets sold with five numbers, but missing the Powerball number, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.
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The numbers drawn Wednesday were 9, 17, 29, 61, 66 and the Powerball number was 26. The jackpot was $440 million.
The drawing was the 25th since a ticket with all six numbers was sold.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 24.9.
The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The National Lottery asked for the lucky winner to come forward
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
A record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot winner from Ireland has officially come forward to claim their prize, a spokeswoman for The National Lottery has confirmed.
The winner, who purchased the ticket in a retail outlet in Co Cork, has scooped an astonishing €250 million and marks the largest ever EuroMillions win in Irish history.
This is also the 18th time the jackpot has been claimed by an Irish player.
The winning numbers from Tuesday’s draw were 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49, with lucky stars 3 and 5.
Earlier in the week, Cian Murphy, chief executive of the Irish National Lottery, had offered advice to the then-unidentified winner, urging them to “stay calm” as the “massive” win could come as a shock.
The €250 million sum, equivalent to approximately £208 million, represents the maximum possible EuroMillions jackpot, which is capped once it reaches this monumental figure.
This jackpot reached the maximum amount on 6 June after rolling over several times.
In total, more than 92,000 players in Ireland won prizes in the EuroMillions and Plus games.
The last Irish winner of the EuroMillions jackpot was in February 2022, when a person won 30.9 million euro with a quick pick ticket they purchased at a service station in Ballina, Co Tipperary.
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Powerball jackpot grows to $467 million after Wednesday drawing, CT Lottery player wins $250K  CT Insider
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