There were celebrations in the National Lottery winners room this week after two players collected huge prizes.
A Wicklow man scooped €318,087 on last Friday’s EuroMillions draw, while a Sligo Lotto syndicate took home a cheque for €250,000.
The EuroMillions winner won his prize after matching five numbers and one lucky star in the Friday, June 23 draw. The lucky ticket was bought at The Gem on Quinsborough Road in Bray.
Speaking in Lotto HQ, he explained that it was a few days before he even thought of checking his ticket to see if it was a winner.
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He explained: “I had the ticket in my pocket all weekend before it even crossed my mind to check it on the Monday after the draw. When I scanned the ticket on the app, I got the message to say ‘You’ve Won Big’ but I had no idea just how much I had actually won. I rang the Claims Department and it was only then that I found out just how big I won. It was a total shock - I’ve never won anything in my life! I have been lucky in other ways in life but never like this.”
He admitted making a peculiar call as he rang the Claims team once again to double check his win.
“I even had to ring the Claims team back to double check the exact amount because it was so overwhelming hearing it the first time,” he said.
Talking about his plans for the win, he added: “Family really is the most important thing so I’ll be helping them out as much as I can.”
Meanwhile, the Sligo syndicate claimed €250,000 which they won in the May 20 Lotto Plus 2 draw after purchasing their ticket online.
The group admitted that this was by far the largest amount that they had ever won.
A spokesperson said: “Before this, I think €3 was the highest amount that I ever saw in my winnings. Even when I logged into my account on the night of the draw, I didn’t notice the huge amount. It was the morning after the draw when I realised the €250,000 looking back at me! At that stage, we were all checking it to make sure we weren’t seeing things.”
