A lottery player in Belgium has become the country's biggest EuroMillions winner ever, claiming a jackpot of nearly 175 million euros after correctly matching all the winning numbers in a recent draw.

The winning ticket matched five numbers — 2, 7, 23, 44 and 46 — along with two lucky stars, numbered 3 and 5. The exact prize stands at €174,984,088, according to the Belgian National Lottery, surpassing the previous national record of €168 million set in October 2016. No details about the winner's identity have been made public.

EuroMillions is a transnational lottery played across nine to twelve European countries, with draws typically held twice a week. Players choose five main numbers and two lucky stars, with the jackpot rolling over when no one matches the full combination. The game's cross-border structure allows prize pools to grow to extraordinary sums, and Belgium has been part of the participating countries since the lottery's expansion.

Why this matters: A single win of this magnitude is a rare event even by EuroMillions standards, and the fact that one Belgian player held the sole winning ticket — rather than the prize being split among multiple winners — makes this result especially remarkable. While the winner's anonymity is protected under Belgian lottery rules, the payout represents a life-altering sum by any measure, equivalent to the annual budgets of small municipalities. For lottery operators, record-breaking jackpots also tend to drive a significant spike in ticket sales in subsequent draws, underlining the wider economic footprint of major wins.