The winner of Ireland's largest ever Lotto jackpot has been revealed as a family syndicate from Co Mayo.
The large syndicate who scooped the record prize worth €19,060,800 have now come forward to claim their cheque at Lotto HQ in Dublin.
The family, described as "ecstatic", are keeping their identities anonymous after the win on January 15 in Castlebar.
After claiming their prize, the group discussed how they have come to terms with being Ireland’s largest Lotto jackpot winners and how they plan to make the very most of their newfound fortune by helping their close friends and the wider community.
“That Saturday night back in January is still a blur and even though we’re finally collecting a cheque for over €19 million, we’re still waiting for somebody to tell us that we made a mistake and we’re not the winners at all!" a spokesperson for the family said.
"There was a lot of excitement about the draw that night, so we watched it on the television at home.
"I had the ticket in my hand and to see the six numbers come out one after another was like an out of body experience – it’s impossible to explain.
"We didn’t get carried away one bit because we thought that there was no way we could have won it.
"We got the phones out and frantically started scanning it on the National Lottery App.
"After about 20 minutes, the ticket scanned, and a message popped up that will live with us all for the rest of our lives. It said, ‘You’ve won big!’ It was such an incredible moment.”
The winning ticket was sold in the XL Store in Castlebar and the family have been spending time since January 15 coming to terms with their win away from the celebrations in the town.
“’In the days after the draw, it wasn’t publicly known where exactly the win was, so it was funny to see the excitement growing when it was announced in Mayo and then in Castlebar," the spokesperson explained.
"One night we were watching the news on TV when somebody in Mayo was interviewed, and they mentioned that they better check their tickets to see if they were the lucky winner.
"One of the family shouted at the TV, ‘Don’t bother checking because we’ve got the winning ticket right here’. We all absolutely burst out laughing knowing that all this fuss was being made and we had the winning ticket all along.”
The group have taken some time out to consider their plans after claiming the €19.06 million prize and have vowed to share their good fortune with those close to them, as well as local community groups and charities.
The family spokesperson added: “It’s such a huge sum of money so as a group, we will be taking as much time as we need to get the right guidance before we make any big decisions.
"While we all will have our own individual plans, the big thing we want to do is help our wider family, close friends and indeed our community in any way we can.
"Of course, we will be paying off whatever mortgages and loans that we have but we have also drawn up a list of people to help in our communities and we look forward to helping out some charities and organisations in the coming months.
"It really is such an exciting time in our lives and we can’t wait to get started to changing peoples lives."
