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British postal worker celebrates $75-million lottery win, biggest ever in UK

Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 | 1:43 PM ET

LONDON (AP) - A postal worker celebrated Britain's biggest-ever lottery win Wednesday, collecting a cheque for 35 million pounds or the equivalent of about C$75 million.

Angela Kelly, 40, from Falkirk, Scotland, said it was three days before she realized she was holding the sole winning ticket for the EuroMillions lottery that was drawn Friday.

The ticket was in her handbag and she only checked it at work Monday when she realized the jackpot had gone unclaimed, she said at a news conference.

"I couldn't believe it when the numbers were there in a row," Kelly said. "I couldn't even say anything, I just pushed my chair back and put my head between my knees, I was so flabbergasted."

Kelly, who earns C$45,000 a year in her postal job, said she had celebrated her win with her first-ever manicure.

"It was great sitting there for half an hour. It is really relaxing, it really is," she said.

Lottery organizer Camelot confirmed Kelly's win as the biggest single payout in British lottery history.

Last year, 46-year-old Dolores MacNamara from Ireland won Europe's largest lottery prize when she claimed C$165 million after the jackpot rolled over for nine consecutive weeks.

The EuroMillions lottery is played across nine European countries.

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