I scooped £1.8million lottery jackpot but then I lost EVERYTHING – including my mansion and husband
A DIVORCEE has revealed the "absolute hell" she was put through after winning the lottery.
Lara Griffiths, 54, won £1.8million in the first online National Lottery but has since lost her house, husband and spent all of the cash.
Lara married Roger in 1997 after meeting at university with the pair going on to claim the lottery jackpot in October 2005.
Working as a performing arts teacher and her husband an IT manager, the pair could not believe it was true.
At first, the parents of 22-month-old daughter, Ruby, thought they were being pranked after receiving an alert at 2.30am.
The couple were quick to appear in public soon after the win had been verified by Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery back then.
Read more Money News
Living the high-life, Lara and Roger became regular jet-setters, quitting their jobs and flying to various destinations including Dubai, Florida and France.
Back home, the overnight millionaires had moved into a £450,000 barn conversion and bought a beauty salon too.
Much like their sudden cash claim, everything came falling down in December 2010 when their new home was subject to a "catastrophic house fire".
Lara said: "The whole place burned down while I was at work, but Roger, the two children and the dogs were inside.
Most read in Money
"It was - we lost all of our possessions too. We didn't even have clothes to wear. Our home burned for three days."
The house was uninhabitable for eight months with Lara's other daughter, Kitty, still experiencing PTSD to this day.
Despite mourning the loss of their house, Lara was faced with another battle to overcome when her husband left her.
By the time they divorced in December 2013, the pair were strapped for cash.
To make matters even worse, Lara suffers from Crohn's disease causing her weight to drop to around six stone.
Ever since, the mum-of-two has been forced to pitch up in her mother's house, relying on her financially for the first year too.
Her daughters Ruby, 20, and Kitty, 17, also live at the property which has a studio in the garden after Lara retrained as a tattoo artist.
Lara added: "I love my life now. OK, I’ve been through some really difficult moments, but I don’t regret winning."
"I regret not having the money any more, but I plan to make it back somehow."
What are my chances of winning the lottery?
EVERYONE wants to know how to beat the odds and win the lottery.
But unfortunately, the lottery is a game of luck and there are no tips or tricks that can guarantee you'll take home a top prize.
The odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize - the lower the number, the better the odds.
For example, odds of 1 in 10 are better than odds of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1,000.
There are several major lottery games in the UK including Lotto by the National Lottery, Camelot's EuroMillions and Thunderball.
Chances of winning the Lotto
Lotto by the National Lottery is a game where you pick six numbers from 1 to 59. You can play up to seven lines of numbers on each slip.
The game costs £2 to play per slip.
The odds of winning any prize on the Lotto are 1 in 9.3.
But to win the jackpot on the Lotto, the odds are considerably slimmer.
To bag the top prize, you need to have six matching balls. The odds of doing this and scooping the jackpot are currently 1 in 45,057,474.
The next highest prize of £1,000,000 is for getting five main matching balls plus the bonus ball.
The odds of taking home the million pound prize are 1 in 7,509,579 - far higher than the jackpot, but still unlikely.
The odds of taking home £1,750 for getting five main numbers without the bonus ball are 1 in 2,180, while you have a 1 in 97 chance of bagging £140 for getting four main numbers.
Your chances of taking home £30 for getting 3 main numbers are much better at 1 in 97.
And you have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free lucky dip for 2 matching numbers.
Chances of winning the EuroMillions
The EuroMillions costs £2.50 to play and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.
To play, you must pick five numbers from 1-50 and two "Lucky Stars" from 1-12. Players with the most matching numbers win the top prizes.
Your chance of bagging the EuroMillions jackpot is even slimmer than winning the top Lotto prize.
This is because it generally has higher jackpots on offer, meaning it attracts more attention.
Currently, the odds of matching five numbers and two lucky stars - the top win - stand at 1 in 139,838,160.
The average jackpot prize is £57,923,499, according to EuroMillions.
The odds of winning the second top prize for matching 5 balls and a lucky star, which is typically around £262,346, are 1 in 6,991,908.
The chances of taking home the third prize for five matching balls, with an average payout of £26,277, are 1 in 3,107,515.
For four matching balls with two lucky stars, it's 1 in 621,503, and for four balls with one lucky star, it's 1 in 31,076. These come with an average prize of £1,489 and £95, respectively.
Chances of winning the Thunderball
Thunderball is another game run by National Lottery where you pick five numbers and one "Thunderball". It costs just £1 to play and you can enter up to four times a week.
The jackpot of £500,000 for matching five balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 8,060,598.
Your odds of bagging the next highest prize of £5,000 for matching five balls is currently 1 in 620,046, while the chances of winning £250 for four balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 47,416.
You have the best chance of winning £3 for matching the Thunderball, with odds of 1 in 29.
