Irish man had winning lotto ticket in his wallet for two weeks before checking it
It was a busy morning in the National Lottery Winner’s Room in Dublin today as more than €647,000 was paid out to winners in three separate claims.
Among them was a man from Leinster who discovered he was carrying a EuroMillions ticket worth €500,000 in his wallet for more than two weeks before he realised his big win.
The lucky player, who visited the Winner’s Room with his partner, revealed that he had been walking around for a couple of weeks with the ticket in his wallet before checking it.
“Usually I check my tickets pretty much straight away after a draw either on the app or in the local shop. I finally checked this one late last week and the shop assistant told me to contact the National Lottery.
I checked on my phone straight away and saw that it was a winner. I drove straight home and said to my partner – ‘We’re rich’!
The man bought his ticket at Cecil’s Foodstore (Centra) at the Square in Collooney, Co. Sligo.
“I bought this ticket when travelling in Sligo for work. I had never been to that shop in my life so when I heard of the four EuroMillions Plus winners from that draw I never twigged it might be me as I live a fair bit away from Sligo.
“I even heard on the radio the next day there were four winners but it didn’t jar with me. I’m just thankful that I didn’t lose it.”
With his winnings, he said he was going to put it towards the future of his young family.
