Castlebar Family Claim €19 Million Irish Lotto Jackpot
The winners of the record €19 million Irish Lotto jackpot from 15th January have decided to remain anonymous, after coming forward to claim the eight-figure payout.
Excitement gripped the nation ahead of the draw, after it was announced that the jackpot had to be won after rolling over for more than seven months.
It set up the possibility that players could grab a share of the biggest-ever Lotto prize without even matching all the numbers, as the money would have had to flow down if no tickets had been an exact match.
It turned out that a single ticket, sold at Laura’s Xl store in Castlebar, had won the jackpot outright, and it has now been paid out to a large family syndicate.
“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 syndicate said.
“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.”
Helping Others
The family said that they found the hype surrounding the search for the winner amusing, as they held on to it at home and came to terms with what had happened.
“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,” they said.
The winners do not have any major plans yet for what to do with the money and want to get some guidance first, but they are looking forward to helping others.
“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,” the spokesperson said.
“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.”
After rolling over for seven months before being won in January, the Lotto jackpot has already been won again. A Co Meath player won €4.6 million on Wednesday 9th February.
Written by Lewis Rutledge, 11th February 2022
