THE North-East has been named as the luckiest region in Britain when it comes to winning the lottery.

Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham all feature in the top ten places in terms of the average number of big windfalls per player since the lottery was launched in 1994.

In a survey based on postcode, Newcastle's NE area came out second in the country, where one in 6,200 adults have won a major prize, just behind Britain's luckiest town of Ilford, in Essex.

Sunderland's SE postcode came in fifth, while County Durham's DH area was tenth.

During the last 17 years, no fewer than 149 lottery millionaires have been created in the region, with more than £680m in top prizes paid out.

Among those whose numbers have come up recently were Paul Goldie and wife Christine, from Washington, Wearside, who landed a £3.5m jackpot in the Christmas Day draw.

A spokesperson for the National Lottery said: "There have obviously been many people in the area who have enjoyed a lucky windfall on the lottery over the past 16 years.

"The North-East has always been one of the luckiest regions in the UK when it comes to winning big and we look forward to paying out many more jackpot prizes in the future."