Man wins EuroMillions after leaving himself with minutes to spare

Ray Bowen almost missed out on the prize that has changed his life
-Credit: (Image: Supplied)


A man is celebrating - and breathing a huge sigh of relief - after winning £131,548.90 on EuroMillions when he bought a ticket with just minutes to spare. After uploading new details to his National Lottery account, he only had a couple of minutes to buy a Lucky Dip before that night’s EuroMillions draw deadline.

Ray Bowen, 61, is now £131,584.90 richer after matching the five main numbers and one Lucky Star number in the EuroMillions draw on Friday, August 30, 2024. Ray, who usually uses his own set of numbers, didn’t have time to input them before the draw deadline. Racing against time before the 7:30pm cut off point to enter that night’s draw, he decided to buy, as it turns out, a very Lucky Dip.

“It was one of the best decisions I’ve made in ages,” said Ray as he explained his last minute dash for a winning ticket. “My friends had come round for our weekly movie night and I was running late. I realised I hadn’t updated my account details and, as I’ve never missed a draw before and the clock was ticking, I just bought a EuroMillions Lucky Dip.

“We then watched a couple of movies and afterwards went straight to bed, without a second thought about the draw. The next morning, I saw a message on my National Lottery account. As I always check and double-check unexpected emails, I thought I’d better wait until the National Lottery line opened and call them to be on the safe side.

“After various checks the lady confirmed that I was a winner and that someone from The National Lottery would be in contact that afternoon. I couldn’t believe it and I felt a bit numb. I then had the call and then waited for everything to be processed…I was shaking. When I calmed down, the first people I called were my mum and dad.”

Ray, a widower, is a carer to his three grandchildren, aged 11, 9 and 7 years. He was previously a motorway recovery driver and cared for the trio with his wife but had to leave the role after very sadly losing her to cancer nearly two years ago, and now looks after the three children full-time.

Ray and his family have already been out for a meal to toast his new found fortune and are planning a bigger celebration in the future. Further down the line, Ray is planning to spend some of his winnings on a family holiday to Disney World in Florida, and then look at buying the house he currently rents.

Explaining what the win means to him, he said: “I told the grandchildren, only this year, that I wanted to save up and take them on a trip of a lifetime. I said it would take me a few years to save, but now we can go a lot sooner and get an upgrade. I also want to explore buying my house and have that security. I’m looking forward to enjoying not having to worry about bills. I already feel more relaxed about financial things and it feels good.”

Ray has a variety of hobbies. He is a collector of personal war medals and, continuing the military theme, he is researching the history of the Royal Artillery. Ray has also just started researching his own family. He is also an avid collector of silver coins and hopes to upgrade to the gold variety after the win. And when he wants to relax, he loves watching sci-fi and action movies.

Ray bought his EuroMillions ticket via the National Lottery app. He matched the five main numbers plus one Lucky Star number in the EuroMillions draw on Friday 30 August 2024. His winning numbers were chosen via a Lucky Dip and the winning EuroMillions numbers on that date were 3, 24, 27, 33, 42 and the Lucky Star numbers were 4 and 6.