A Carlisle man is celebrating a whopping £7.5 million jackpot win.
James Clarkson, 20, who works with his parents Stephen and Becky as a trainee gas engineer, won a total of £7,533,329 in the Lotto jackpot draw on Saturday January 4.
Despite his win, the youngster has said he is committed to continuing to work and fully qualify as a gas engineer. But he has started to enjoy the money, by booking a luxury holiday, buying designer treats for himself and paying off his parents’ mortgage.
James’ lottery luck began over Christmas when he bagged £120 in the special Lotto Christmas Day draw.
With some of his winnings he decided to buy five more Lotto lines for the first draw of the new year made up of two Lucky Dip lines and three lines of randomly selected numbers.
It was one of the randomly selected lines that turned into his life-changing win.
He said: “I was at my girlfriend’s house the morning after the draw 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 and then I scrolled down and saw I’d matched all six main Lotto numbers to hit the jackpot and that my prize amount for £7,533,329.
“I just didn’t believe it, I thought I was dreaming. It was only 7.30am so everyone was asleep.
“I woke up my girlfriend and showed her my ticket on the phone. She took a sleepy glance and said ‘no, you haven’t won’, turned over and went back to sleep! I wasn’t so sure, so called my dad as I knew he would be awake. He calmly told me to come home and we’d have a look.”
Along with his mum, dad and brother, Thomas, 24, James ended up sat on the corner of his parent’s bed waiting for the National Lottery Line to open at 9am.
He said: “We called dead on nine and chatted through the ticket details and who I was. They eventually confirmed mine was the winning ticket.
“I think I just started laughing. I thought, ‘this is mad!’
“I spent the rest of the day visiting my family and girlfriend who all live close by, all of us talking about the win. I have a big family and we are all close.
“News spread fast and we all ended up celebrating later at my grandma and grandad’s with a roast beef dinner and Champagne!”
But it was back to reality on Monday morning as James had work commitments to fulfil alongside his dad, Stephen, 47, carrying out property maintenance.
He said: “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. 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! He says there are plenty of millionaires out there that still work and you need a reason to get up each day.”
James left school during the Covid pandemic and went on to start an apprenticeship in bricklaying which he stuck with until a year ago when he started working for his dad.
James said: “Bricklaying is a hard job and is really cold most of the time too. Now, working with dad, the van isn’t much warmer but there is more variety, and I am getting to work towards my gas engineer certificate.
“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.”
James has already booked an all-inclusive luxury break to Cape Verde and has treated himself to a few designer items, including a Gucci bag for his girlfriend and two new jackets for himself.
He hopes his next purchase is going to be a new car, preferably an Audi.
He added: “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.
“The comfort, the steering, the heated seats. I realise how jammy that sounds. Not many people my age can afford the car insurance let alone a car like that to drive.”
James is also a massive Manchester City fan and goes to games whenever he can get a ticket. The young tradesman has supported them all his life, after his dad took him to his first match when he was just three years old.
He now hopes he will be able to see many more matches and even get a season ticket for him and his family.
James has a large extended family and is working out how he can help them. Top of the list is to pay off his parents’ mortgage.
He said: “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. 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.”
There have been further celebrations since the news first broke, with several generations of the family gathering in one of the local pubs over the weekend.
He added: “Everyone was there, grandad, dad, my brother, cousin, even my mum came along, and she doesn’t even drink. It was great – we all enjoyed the craic.”
James’ played Lotto on the National Lottery app. His winning Lotto numbers on Saturday January 4 2025 were 16, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 35.
