You hear Lotto jackpot stories like this, don’t you? A regular young lad, just starting out, suddenly hits the jackpot. Well, meet James Clarkson, a 20-year-old trainee gas engineer from Carlisle. He’s now famously known as Lotto jackpot winner Clarkson after scooping a life-changing £7,533,329 in the Lotto drawback on January 4th, 2025. But get this – despite having enough cash to never look at a boiler again, James said he was sticking with his job and wanted to get his qualifications. Fair play to him!
Lotto Jackpot
It all started pretty small. James pocketed £120 in the special Lotto Christmas Draw. Feeling lucky, he bought five more Lotto lines for the first draw of the New Year. He got a couple of Lucky Dips and picked three lines of random numbers himself. And wouldn’t you know it? One of those random picks came up golden!
Picture this: James is checking his phone super early one morning at his girlfriend’s place. Sees the National Lottery app flashing up that he’s matched all six Lotto numbers. His first thought? Must be dreaming. “I just didn’t believe it,” he said. He tried waking his girlfriend, but she apparently mumbled something and went back to sleep, thinking he was joking. Sensibly, James rang his dad, who told him to get back home
Imagine the scene: the whole Clarkson family crammed into his parents’ bedroom, pacing the floor, waiting for the National Lottery phoneline to open at 9 am. When they finally got through and confirmed the win was real, James just couldn’t stop laughing. He called it “mad” – which sounds about right!
Family First: Mortgage Sorted, Roast Beef, and Bubbles
Word about Lotto winner Clarkson spread like wildfire through his tight-knit family. How did they celebrate? With a proper family get-together – roast beef and champagne at his grandparents’ place later that day. Classic! And the first thing James did with the money? Paid off his parents’ mortgage. What a top son! Shows his feet are still firmly on the ground, even if his bank balance is in the clouds.
Back to Unblocking Drains and Staying Grounded
Most people win the lottery and tell their boss where to stick it. Not James. The very next day, he was back out helping his dad with blocked drains. “I’m not going to stop working,” he insisted. “I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there.”