Cork Family Claim €1 Million Prize Two Months After the Draw
A family from Cork, Munster, have finally collected their €1 million Irish Lotto winnings two months after the draw took place. The significant delay in coming forward came after they had “absolutely no idea” they were in possession of the winning ticket for an eight-week period following the lucky draw.
They won the seven-figure windfall after matching all six numbers in the supplementary Lotto Plus One draw on Saturday 3rd November 2018, but only realised they were the winners when they came across the ticket a few days prior to Christmas Day. The family, who have decided to remain anonymous, purchased their lucky entry from the Centra store on Main Street in Carrigtwohill, Cork, two days before the draw.
The husband explained: “It was Christmas week and we were clearing out one of the rooms when we came across this Lotto ticket so we checked it on the National Lottery phone app to make sure there was nothing on it before we put it in the bin! My wife and I were just sat there stunned into silence when we realised it was worth a million euro. It certainly made it a wonderful Christmas knowing that we would soon be millionaires once we collected the prize.”
All Irish Lotto prizes have to be claimed within 90 days of the draw taking place, so the family only had a few weeks remaining to collect their winnings before the deadline expired. With the busy festivities that come over the December period, the family weren’t able to do so towards the back end of 2018. However, they ensured 2019 got off to the best start possible by finally claiming their prize from the National Lottery headquarters in Dublin on 8th January.
They said they won’t rush into deciding what to do with their new-found wealth, and added: “We’ve been walking around with the biggest smiles on our faces ever since we found out.”
Christmas Millionaire Raffle Prize Claimed
A syndicate from County Roscommon, Connacht, have also been busy in the New Year after collecting their €100,000 winnings from the same National Lottery offices. The syndicate, made up of a group of friends, owned one of three tickets that won the six-figure amount in the Millionaire Raffle on New Year’s Eve. They bought their winning entry from a Dunnes Store in Roscommon.
The leader of the syndicate explained: "I checked the ticket and was told it was a winner, so I started looking at the €500 prize winners, completely expecting to see our numbers there. When I got to the list of winners in the €100,000 category my heart almost stopped. I think it's finally sinking in now that we're in Lotto HQ with the cheque."
There is still time to enter tonight’s Irish Lotto draw for €4 million, and you could follow in the footsteps of the Cork and Roscommon winners by matching three or more numbers. Visit our Lottery Tickets page and follow the on-site instructions to begin. Best of luck!
9th January 2019
