A Laois man admitted to being dumbstruck after he discovered he had won the top EuroMillions Plus prize of €500,000 from the December 11 draw.
But the awe-stricken National Lottery player, who has now come to terms with his win, said it won’t change him and he will still be the same humble family man he was before.
Speaking in the National Lottery Winner’s room today where he picked up his mega cheque on time for Christmas the winner said: “I was walking around with the ticket in my pocket for more than a week when I heard there was a winning ticket sold in Mountmellick, It still didn’t really twig it could be me as I don’t live there.
“I often stop in the town to fill my car with petrol when I drive by. When I scanned the ticket I got a message to contact the National Lottery.
“When I called and was told I had won a half a million euro I couldn’t utter to the lady on the phone. I wasn’t taking in what she was saying to me. It’s the first time in my life I’ve been utterly speechless.”
The winner also said that he has only told his wife about his good fortune and he is thinking of how to break the news to his children over the Christmas break.
He continued: “I’ve been humble all my life so there will be no mad spending splurges. This has been a huge slice of luck for us and I’ll use this money to help out my family and it will be a bit of comfort for us all.”
This winning ticket was sold at the Petrogas Service Station in Mountmellick town, Co. Laois. It was the 27th Irish EuroMillions Plus top prize of €500,000 win of the year, which means that Irish players have won a total of €13.5 million in top prizes on EuroMillions Plus so far this year.
While the winter temperatures are plummeting, the EuroMillions jackpot is soaring to a whopping €100 million (estimated) tonight (Friday 21st December.)
A National Lottery spokesperson said: “This win would certainly wrap up Christmas! There are 100 million reasons to play tonight’s EuroMillions. Fingers crossed that it is won in Ireland! You can get your ticket EuroMillions in-store, online or using the National Lottery App before 7.30pm this evening.”
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games go back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts and heritage. In total more than €5.3 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 31 years ago. In 2017 alone, the National Lottery raised over €226 million for such good causes.
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