A LUCKY man from York is more than a million pounds richer after striking the lottery jackpot.

The mystery man, believed to be from the Haxby area of the city, is thought to have won well over a million pounds either through the National Lottery draw or through buying a lottery scratchcard.

The identity of the winner has not been revealed, but the Haxby and Wigginton communities have been full of speculation. The Press has received a number of calls from members of the public telling us about the win.

One local, who did not want to be named, said several customers had come into a pub talking about it.

“I have heard that somebody had a won a large amount of money on the lottery,” she said. “There are lots of people gossiping about it, but nobody seems to know who this person is.”

She said she had heard from several people that the winner was a man in his early 20s from the local area.

Despite the speculation, the winner has remained elusive and under National Lottery guidelines, all recipients of windfalls have to agree to publicity before Lottery organisers Camelot can confirm information, for example, on which date a winning ticket was bought, or the amount that was won.

The Haxby win comes just months after The Press reported how another York resident became a millionaire after coming forward as the owner of an unclaimed winning lottery ticket.

The announcement by Camelot came following an appeal in The Press for York residents to check their Euromillions Millionaire tickets from the draw on New Year’s Day.

The £1 million winner declined any publicity, but Camelot was able to confirm the person was from the York area.


Lottery winners’ jackpots

THERE has been a string of lottery windfalls in York and North Yorkshire.

York’s popular Ken Southwell, 46, from Fulford, who died in 2006, was catapulted to fame when he won Britain’s first National Lottery draw in 1994.

He scooped more than £800,000 after buying his ticket from Jackson’s supermarket in Fulford Road after matching all six numbers in the inaugural draw, sharing a £5.8 million jackpot with six other winners.

In May 1997, grandparents Cynthia and Basil Taylor scooped £3.2 million, after buying a last-gasp ticket at Pybus newsagents in Boroughbridge.

Later that year, a 13-strong Acomb syndicate scooped £2.1 million. The following year, York nursery nurse Debbie Sawyer jetted off on honeymoon £44,000 richer after her syndicate came up trumps on her wedding day.

In 2003, married couple Alex and John Dyer, stewards at Knaresborough Working Men’s Club, won nearly £6 million in a Lotto Extra draw.

Nine workers at Europower Hydraulics in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, shared more than £7 million when they picked the winning numbers in a double rollover draw in March 2004.

A huge lottery win saw North Yorkshire woman Jane Surtees celebrate Christmas in style in 2008 when she scooped £7 million.