Joe and Jess Thwaite win Britain’s biggest EuroMillions jackpot

Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, scooped a record-breaking £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket on the draw on Tuesday, May 10.

Joe, 49 and a communications sales engineer, and Jess, 44, who runs a hairdressing salon with her sister, have been married for 11 years and have two primary school-aged children.

The couple say the win gives them a chance to ‘dream’, which they say they have not been able to do before.

Jess said: “We have had a week to think about this and we now have time to share lots of experiences and go on adventures with our family and friends.

“Our two children have always talked about going to Hawaii, I’ve no idea why, but we can now make that dream come true.

“They have always wanted a horse box for our ponies rather than the run-down trailer we use.

Jess and Joe Thwaite celebrate their jackpot EuroMillions win (Image: PA)

“Just to see their faces when we can make these things come true will be worth every penny.”

The record was previously held by an anonymous ticket-holder who banked £170 million in October 2019.

The new record-breakers mark the second EuroMillions jackpot won in the UK this year, with the £109million jackpot from the draw on February 4 claimed a few days later.

At a press conference this morning, Thursday, Jess said even though it is ‘wonderful and exciting’ it is also a ‘massive relief for everybody that has been struggling with bills’.

The couple said their financial situation is ‘not horrendous’, but that the cost of living crisis has ‘affected their lives’.

Joe said he was working on Tuesday and by 4pm he thought he ‘better buy a ticket’ because he was aware of the jackpot.

He said he regularly buys tickets, adding: “I normally buy them when it is a good amount, so when there is a lot of money I will put it on, but generally my luck is pretty terrible.”

Jess and Joe Thwaite celebrate their jackpot EuroMillions win (Image: PA)

On learning about the win, Joe said: “I first thought it was in the thousands,” adding that he thought it was ‘life-changing’.

But then he ‘started counting the digits’, commenting: “Amazing, but also surreal.”

He said they have been trying to move house for quite a while adding: “You go on Rightmove and you set your limits on what you can afford.

“In the past everything we have kind of wanted is far beyond what we can afford, so I thought I don’t need to filter, I can actually just look at anything.

Asked if there is one thing they have always dreamed of buying, Jess said: “We are not really those materialistic people. If you saw our house you would know.

“I will probably buy a new car or something like that, but we would love to go on a holiday family.

“We never go on holiday, so our kids would just die to go to the sun and do that kind of thing, so I would love to go and do that.”