An events technician from the North-East is celebrating this morning after winning £1,000,000 in the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw on Christmas Day.

Andrew Stephen Garth, 29, who works as a freelance light and sound events technician, was hosting a party for friends on Boxing Day for his birthday when he decided to take time out from the party to check his ticket and couldn’t believe his luck when he spotted the matching numbers.

Commenting on his win, Andrew, from Middlesbrough, said: “It was crazy; I kept getting waves of excitement then disbelief.

"I must have checked the ticket at least five times before my friends came to find me. They thought I was playing a prank on them.

"I announced I would take all of them to Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve – we were all screaming in excitement.”

Andrew has worked in events for over 12 years and is a huge fan of Dubstep and Drum ‘n’ Bass music. He goes to Newcastle for gigs with friends regularly but now he wants to buy space in Middlesbrough and open the first live music venue in the area, something which he’s dreamed of doing for a long time.

“I love live music but sadly Middlesbrough doesn’t offer the kind of taste that I like. I already have my eyes on a few places to buy, possibly near Teesside Park,” he added.

Andrew is also looking forward to treating his family. He is paying off his parents’ and sister’s mortgages and flying them all out to Australia in March to visit his Auntie, a trip the family have been wanting to take for years but have been unable to afford due to the cost of the flights.

He is ecstatic that he can now spoil his family, especially his three nephews with a first class flight.

Andrew has already purchased a Mac Book Pro and a surround sound system to go with his brand new 65” 3D TV. 

He bought his winning EuroMillions ticket from Sainsbury’s in Grimsby.

The raffle number drawn was FXQ151079 in the special draw on Christmas Day that guaranteed to create 25 millionaires.

In addition to the special Christmas Day draw, The National Lottery is also guaranteeing 25 Brits will start 2013 as a millionaire thanks to a special EuroMillions Raffle draw being held on New Year’s Day.

EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle is a UK-only game that is part of EuroMillions and guarantees to make two lucky players millionaires – each Tuesday and Friday. For each EuroMillions line you buy you get a unique Millionaire Raffle number at the bottom of your ticket. Match the three letters and six numbers and you’ve won £1 million.