There is lucky, beyond lucky and mind-bogglingly, jaw-droppingly jammy. But a whole new vocabulary may be required to describe the good fortune of David and Kathleen Long, who revealed on Wednesday that they had beaten odds of over 283 billion to one to win a second £1m prize on the EuroMillions lottery in less than two years.
The Longs, who are from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, are thought to be the first people to win £1m twice. Consultation with Ladbrokes suggested someone's chances of achieving this feat were more than five million times slimmer than those of Elvis being found alive this year (50 000-1), and dwarfed by the odds of England winning the next three World Cups (2 500-1) or the next royal baby being called Wayne (500-1).
The couple first won £1m in the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw of 26 July 2013. They won their second million (plus a top-of-the-range Jaguar) in last week's EuroMillions Mega Friday draw.
But yesterday, Mr Long, a 59-year-old former HGV driver, did not seem unduly surprised. He said he had always told his 63-year-old wife: “I'm gonna do it again.”
He added: “Last Friday night I was passing the local shop and thought: 'Yeah, I'll give that a go.' On Saturday morning I sat down in front of our telly and started checking the numbers. I checked the raffle codes. After a few moments I very calmly called Kath in and said: 'Have a look at this.'
“Kath checked the TV; then she turned on the laptop and checked the website. Then she went right up close to our television, put on her glasses and stared really hard at the numbers. Then she finally said: 'You said you'd do it again and you have!'“
Mr Long, however, revealed their winning streak almost never began because in 2013 he thought he had won just £2.70 - a sum he only bothered to claim because he was going to the newsagent anyway, to buy a newspaper. “I had to fish the ticket out of the bin. When I got to the shop I found it was worth a heck of a lot more!
“That win couldn't have come at a better time. Times had been really tough. I had been really ill for three years and unable to work.”
This time, Mr Long said, he would probably treat his wife to a cruise. “Kath and I had a fantastic wedding last year but we never took a honeymoon because I'm just not keen on flying. Kath would love me to book a Mediterranean cruise and I think I have just run out of excuses.”
283 505 896n 200-1 - The odds of winning a £1m prize on the EuroMillions lottery twice
The Independent