New lottery millionaire James Clarkson will make sure none of his £7.5m jackpot goes down the drain.
He told yesterday (Wed) of his plans to keep on working because at 20, he is ‘too young’ to retire. The day after he scooped the £7,533,329 prize money, he was unblocking a drain on a job for his dad’s plumbing firm. After showing his girlfriend the lotto ‘jackpot’ email, informing him of his win, she rolled over in bed, saying he had made a mistake.
James, of Carlisle, Cumbria, recalled: “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.” Nonetheless, kind-hearted James is paying off the mortgage of parents Stephen, 37, and Becky, 41, as he weighs up how to help his family.
James is a Manchester City fan and was given a special shirt to remember his win
(
Image:
Anthony Devlin)
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.” He celebrated in a pub with his dad, grandad, brother, cousin, and mum, ‘even though she doesn’t drink’. He won £120 in the Christmas Day draw and decided to buy five more lines for the first draw of the New Year, two Lucky Dip lines and three lines of randomly selected numbers; one of the trio delivered his life-changing win.
James was staying with his girlfriend on Sunday Jan 5 when he saw a message on his lottery App as he checked the weather. “I opened it straight away but couldn’t see anything to begin with,” he recalled. “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. 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!
Smiling James celebrates with his family
(
Image:
Anthony Devlin)
“I wasn’t so sure, so I called my dad as I knew he would be awake. He calmly told me to come home and we’d have a look.” With his excited mum, dad, and brother, Thomas, 24, by his side on his parents’ bed, James called the lotto winners’ line at 9am. “We checked the details. 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, 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 grandparents with a roast beef dinner and Champagne.” James left school in the Covid pandemic, did an apprenticeship in bricklaying for a year then started work with his dad. Bricklaying is a hard job and is really cold most of the time,” he added. “Now, working with dad, the van isn’t much warmer but there is more variety, and I am working towards my gas engineer certificate.
James celebrates with his parents, grandparents and family members at Dalston Hall near Carlisle
(
Image:
Anthony Devlin)
“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 is going on an all-inclusive luxury break to Cape Verde and has bought his girlfriend a Gucci bag and two new jackets for himself. Next on the list is a new Audi. He added: “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 Man City fan and goes to games whenever he can get a ticket. He went to his first game, aged three, with his dad. Now he is aiming for a season ticket. He played on the lottery App; his winning Lotto numbers on Saturday Jan 4, 2025 were 16, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 35.