Celebrity photographer Rankin has captured an extraordinary gathering to celebrate The National Lottery’s 30th birthday.

In a landmark photoshoot, 30 millionaires from the last three decades came together to celebrate the birthday and share their life-changing stories. 

It is exactly 30 years since National Lottery tickets first went on sale in the UK on 14th November 1994. Rankin, who has photographed icons from Queen Elizabeth II to the Rolling Stones, gathered the extraordinary individuals worth more than £190 million at his London studio, creating both intimate individual portraits and a historic group shot of the thirty winners – representing just a fraction of the 7,400 millionaires created since the first draw.

The landmark line-up – who have won £194,465,555 between them – includes Lesley Higgins from Aberdeenshire and Gareth Bull from Mansfield who won £57.9 million and £40.6 million respectively on EuroMillions.

Major Lotto winners include Jackie King from Grimsby who won £14 million in 1998, Sarah Cockings from Whitley Bay who banked £3 million back in 2005 and Peter Congdon from Truro who won £13.5 million in 2015. The winners travelled from far and wide to take part in the photo-shoot, from the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland to Cornwall and Newcastle; with ages spanning from 25 to 80 years old. 

Rankin said: “I am extremely lucky that I get to meet and work with extraordinary people, from famous actors and models through to NHS nurses. I remember when The National Lottery first started and it was intriguing to meet the real winners and hear their stories and experiences. They are normal people who have had an extraordinary thing happen to them, transforming their lives. That is what we set out to capture.”

Sarah Cockings (40) from Whitley Bay, represented 2005 in the line-up, the year she landed her £3,045,705 life-changing Lotto jackpot win. She said at the photo-shoot: “It has been an amazing experience and changed mine and my family's life. After winning I finished my degree, bought my own home and now have four wonderful children. Although people still remember me paying for boob jobs for my two sisters, and then having one myself! I’m still very close to my sisters - we all live just a few minutes from each other.”

Representing 2014 was EuroMillions winner Matt Myles from Herefordshire who at the age of 27 immediately quit his job and travelled around the world thanks to his £1,000,000 win. He said “It was a crazy year and I have the best memories. I picked up my winnings and flew straight to Bali, then on to Thailand, Brazil for the World Cup, which was unbelievable, then on to Ibiza on a mega holiday with 13 mates. My life revolves round my family these days, we live in a beautiful, converted chapel and I run my own car business too. I still have my giant cheque – it hangs in the shed above my ride-on mower to remind me how lucky I am.”

Since the first draw on 19 November 1994, The National Lottery has created more than 7,400 millionaires and paid out more than £95 billion in prizes. It’s not just the lives of individuals that have changed, a massive £49 billion has been raised helping support thousands of projects and charities, transforming communities across the UK.

The 7,400 lucky millionaires are located in villages, towns and cities in every corner of the UK.  The large population across the South East of England has broken the four-figure barrier and now boasts 1,071 National Lottery millionaires.  This is followed by 886 in London and 878 in the North West of England.  Scotland has seen a stunning 692 new millionaires made across the last 30 years, Wales 408 and Northern Ireland 195.  

Kathy Garrett, winner adviser at National Lottery operator Allwyn, who has herself paid over a billion pounds in prizes to lucky players over the years, said: “The National Lottery has been changing lives, helping communities and supporting charities for 30 years. On average seven millionaires are created every week across our games and these lovely winners are just a tiny fraction of the lucky players who have won incredible sums of money over the years.”