Lottery ticket worth record 35.4 million pounds

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) A lottery ticket bought in Britain is worth the largest sum in the history of the game in the UK, Camelot said today.

The lucky ticket-holder is sitting on a prize of 35.4 million pounds after the ticket's numbers came up in yesterday night's EuroMillions draw.

Camelot, which operates the British arm of the European lottery, said it would be the biggest single payout in the UK's lottery history.

A spokesman told Reuters: ''It's the biggest lottery prize to be won in the UK.'' The previous biggest-ever non-rollover lottery win in Britain went to Paul Maddison and Mark Gardiner in June 1995 when they scooped 22.5 million pounds on the Lotto game.

The record-breaking winner or winners -- many people play the lottery in syndicates -- will have to wait until Camelot's offices open on Monday for the ticket to be validated.

They have up to 180 days to claim the prize.

''I would anticipate they would be in before that time,'' the spokesman added.

The lottery operator knows the winning ticket was bought in Britain, but the spokesman declined to say where it was bought to protect the anonymity of the winner.

The numbers drawn in yesterday's EuroMillions draw were 23, 40, 42, 43, 49, plus ''lucky star'' numbers two and six.

Players have to match all five main numbers and both ''lucky star'' numbers to scoop the jackpot.

The chances of this happening are one in 76 million, the spokesman said.

EuroMillions is played across nine countries -- Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland, as well as the UK.

The largest jackpot the game produced was 126 million pounds, shared between two winners from France and one from Portugal in February last year.

REUTERS LPB RAI1908