Why Sunderland is one of the luckiest cities for National Lottery jackpot wins

The pair, who are both set to bank £7,671,450, say they can now live the life they always dreamed of, with first-class flights to Las Vegas topping their shopping list.

Back in 2013 Lottery bosses said Sunderland is the luckiest in the North East – and the second luckiest in the whole of the UK.

Best friends celebrate £15million National Lottery winStatistics revealed by the National Lottery show players in the SR postcode have landed more major prizes of £50,000 or more per head than anywhere else in the country besides Romford, Essex.

Since the launch of the National Lottery in November 1994, more than 150 Mackems have won in excess of £50,000, including 16 who became millionaires.

Some of the other big winners from our area include:

* The brother-sister partnership of John Summerville and Margaret Caffry who won £1million on the Euromillions draw in May 2013.

* In December 2010, grandparents Paul and Christine Goldie, from Washington, won £3.5million, before Doreen and Fred Smith – also from Washington – scooped £2.4million seven months later.

* Whitburn couple Railston and Violet Watkins “couldn’t believe it” when they joined in the fun last year, netting £1.2million.

* In 2007, a player in Pennywell won just shy of £1million with the ticket they bought only minutes before the draw.

* Pensioners Bob and Mary Carruthers, of Silksworth, became the city’s first Lottery millionaires back in April 1995, when they landed a £2.4million jackpot.