There are six lottery winners in the area already, so it was always going to take something special to excite Newport about a jackpot win.

Something like learning that a couple in the city had won £45.5 million.

This morning a husband and wife from Newport, South Wales, will be introduced at a press conference this morning as the winners of a half-share of Friday’s EuroMillions draw. The other winning ticket was held by a syndicate of Liverpool call-centre staff.

In the last three years, there have been six lottery wins of more than £1 million in the Newport area but all those winnings combined add up to just half of the prize scooped by the couple who, until this morning, remain unnamed.

For all the freedom, holidays and houses their money will buy them, that anonymity is something they will never own again.

The husband and wife will this morning no doubt be discussing how they plan to spend their fortune, which ranks them alongside Sir Michael Caine and Sir Cliff Richard in Britain’s rich list.

Space flight is now within their grasp with prices for a seat on Virgin Galactic space flights expected to cost around £107,000. Their prize would mean that they could treat more than 400 of their friends to sub-orbital space flights.

They will not, however, become the richest among Newport’s 140,000 residents. Sir Terry Matthews, the telecoms entrepreneur who became Wales first billionaire, was born in the city and owns a resort there that will host next year’s Ryder Cup.

Last night Wales’s newest multi-millionaires were savouring their final hours of privacy before becoming the symbol of hope and figures of envy for the millions who buy their lottery tickets each week. Newspapers have already offered rewards to friends and colleagues to identify the couple and they have been warned to expect their private lives and past to come under intense scrutiny.

A Camelot spokesman said: “They say lightning doesn’t strike twice — but it has struck six times in Gwent before the latest big win. You can’t explain why they are so lucky but maybe it is something in the Welsh water.”

Previous lottery winners, however, have warned about the devastating impact of their wins. Phil and Sue Bowness won £1.25 million in 1998, but Mrs Bowness said later: “That money destroyed our marriage and wrecked the lives of our children.”

Mr Bowness celebrated the win by having an affair, after which his wife attempted suicide and his teenage daughter became pregnant.

Callie Rogers became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £2 million at 16. But she frittered away the money, became depressed and attempted suicide. “It has ruined my life,” she has said. “My life is a shambles and hopefully now it has gone I can find some happiness.”

However, the previous largest jackpot winner, Angela Kelly, who won £35 million, sent her congratulations to the Welsh couple. “My win has enabled me to bring a great deal of happiness to my friends and family, which has in turn made me very happy,” she said.

In Liverpool, some members of the winning syndicate were unaware of their fortune until they arrived at BT’s call centre in the city centre yesterday. The seven or eight members of the syndicate, who will win close to £3 million each, are IT managers employed by Hewlett-Packard. One colleague said: “You can only imagine what it was like when it dawned on them. I’ve heard they just went mad — screaming and shouting.”

Sadly, James Bramwell, 46, from North Shields, spent the weekend believing he had won a share of the jackpot. He even borrowed £1,000 to pay off debts before finding that his lottery numbers were from a different draw.

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