EuroMillions sales 'set to soar'

Tickets for the draw can be bought in nine European countries

Ticket sales are on course to soar by 650% for Friday's EuroMillions lottery, which has a record estimated £120m jackpot, the UK lottery operator says.

The prize - which has rolled over 11 times - will be the biggest ever lottery pay-out if a single winner hits the jackpot, said Camelot.

If no-one scoops the cash it will be shared among the next tier of winners.

Players must match five main numbers from one to 50 and two Lucky Star numbers, one to nine, to win the draw.

EuroMillions tickets are sold in the UK, the Irish Republic, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Its rules state that jackpots can only rollover a maximum of 11 times and must be won on the 12th week.

With £120m in the bank the largest lottery winner in the world could afford almost anything they fancied The National Lottery

The chances of winning the top prize have been put at 76 million to one.

If the main prize goes unclaimed, then players have a 5.5 million-to-one chance of winning a slice of it in the next level of the draw, by matching five main numbers and one Lucky Star number.

A National Lottery spokesman said: "This Friday, because the massive prize has to be won, we're predicting a huge sales rush, causing ticket sales to be up more than 650% on a normal base week.

"With £120m in the bank the largest lottery winner in the world could afford almost anything they fancied."

This series of EuroMillions roll-overs will have generated an estimated £45m for good causes in the UK by the end of this week, the UK lottery operator added.

Times Rich List

Camelot said if one UK ticket-holder wins the jackpot they would be guaranteed a place in the current Sunday Times Rich List as the 465th richest person in Britain.

The lucky winner would also be as rich as David Bowie, Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb and just behind Ringo Starr.

The win would also catapult them to the top of the lottery rich list.

Previous jackpots won by sole ticket-holders in the US have topped £100m but the actual prize amounts paid out were lower because the winners opted for a lower one-off sum.

The biggest jackpot offered in the UK to date was a £125m EuroMillions prize in February this year, which was won by the holders of two tickets sold in France and one sold in Portugal.

Dolores McNamara, 50, from Garryowen, County Limerick, scooped £77m (112m euros) in July 2005 on EuroMillions, making her the winner of Europe's largest lottery jackpot.