When it comes to the National Lottery, players are four times more likely to be struck by lightning than to win the jackpot.

But research released this week revealed people who live in Maidstone, Medway and parts of Swale stand a better chance of winning than most.

Camelot said ME ranks sixth out of the 121 postcodes across the country, with 432 wins of more than £50,000 since the competition launched in 1994.

The figures include 42 people who have been made millionaires, 15 of whom were in the past five years.

It means one in every 1,104 people with an ME postcode have a chance of winning.

To mark the area’s special status, lucky EuroMillions couple Wayne and Desiree Home, both 58, from East Farleigh, sailed into Maidstone on their luxury sports boat.

The grandparents, who previously battled cancer and had bailiffs at the door, became £1 million richer after buying a winning ticket from Barming Post Office in July 2014.

Previously, they had to sell their home after losing their jobs, but have since moved into a converted pump house beside the river, where their first buy was a soft-close toilet seat.

Mrs Home said: “I cannot begin to describe how our life has changed since that win. It’s like a fairytale.

“We’ve moved to a dream home on the river, have our motor boat moored at the end of the garden, and are able to really enjoy life together – all things that before the win felt pie in the sky.”

In May that year two Sutton Road residents scooped a £25,000 jackpot after their postcode was drawn in the People’s Postcode Lottery.