A young lad struck gold with his lottery ticket this January.
James Clarkson, 20, woke up as the luckiest man in the UK after realising that he hit the Lotto jackpot.
The trainee gas engineer from Carlisle, Cumbria, became the first National Lottery winner of 2025, picking the winning numbers for the first draw of the year on 4 January.
The winning total? Just £7,533,329.
His numbers, chosen randomly on that fateful day, were 16, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 35.
Clarkson bought the lucky ticket after already winning £120 in the Lotto Christmas Day draw, going with two Lucky Dip lines and three lines of randomly selected numbers.
You can imagine that his loved ones were over the moon for the young lad when he received the news – well, except one it seems.
It turns out that the tradesman woke up on 5 January while staying over at his girlfriend’s house to look at the snow outside, but got a message from the lottery that trumped the UK’s arctic weather.
Clarkson said he woke his girlfriend from her slumber to tell her the good news – only for her to not believe him and turn over to go back to sleep.
Talk about an anti-climax. Still a jackpot winner though.
Clarkson then called his dad, who was awake, and went home to check the legitimacy of the win.
Recalling the morning, he said: “I was at my girlfriend’s house and got up early to check on the snowfall when I saw a message saying I’d won on the National Lottery app.
“I opened it straight away but couldn’t see anything to begin with; then I scrolled down and saw I’d matched all six main Lotto numbers to hit the jackpot and that my prize amount was £7,533,329! I just didn’t believe it! I thought I was dreaming!”
When back at home with his parents and 24-year-old brother, Clarkson waited eagerly for the National Lottery Line to open so he could claim his winnings.
Spending the rest of his day visiting family and friends, it all culminated in a celebratory dinner at his grandparents’ with champagne.
But Clarkson’s winnings didn’t mean that his life would change overnight, as he was back at work with his dad on Monday morning, doing some property maintenance.
“I was out in the cold fixing blocked drains the day after I found out I had won. It was a bit grim but that’s reality,” he revealed.
“I’m not going to stop working, I’m too young. I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there. I need to have a purpose in life, plus dad wouldn’t let me not work anyway!”
The young winner aims to work towards getting his gas engineer certificate, deciding on his next steps from there.
“I know people might think I’m mad to still work but I want to and, of course, there’ll be some nice holidays in between,” he said.
So far, Clarkson’s got an all-inclusive trip to Cape Verde booked, while splashing out on some designer items for himself and his girlfriend.
The 20-year-old admitted: “I’m not really a fan of shopping, it’s not my idea of fun but a new car, that would be massive! If you drive a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you’d understand.”
A Manchester City fan, he also aims to get himself and his family a season ticket as he currently goes to games when he can.
Clarkson also wants to share the winnings with family, with intentions to pay his parents’ mortgage off.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, it’s what I want to do. I told them last night and they seemed really overwhelmed,” he shared.
“We are close and they have always been there for me. This win isn’t just for me, I want to make sure we all benefit.”
