Clare woman who won €500,000 had her ticket for a month before realising she'd won
A Co Clare woman was sitting on a winning €500,000 EuroMillions plus ticket for a month before she realised there was a chance she could be a winner.
It was only through a casual conversation at home that she learned the winning ticket was purchased at Barry’s Mace Store in the small village of Ardnacrusha, where she played EuroMillions on October 6.
The winner, who arrived at National Lottery GQ today with her large family to collect her cheque, revealed she is not a regular player of Lottery games.
“I was in the car on October 6 when I heard that night’s EuroMillions jackpot was €190m so I pulled into the nearest shop to buy a ticket," she said.
"I heard the following day that the jackpot was won in Spain, so I didn’t even bother checking the results. I didn’t know anything about a €500,000 EuroMillions Plus prize.
“Despite the fact there was a lot of talk over the weeks of a big EuroMillions winner in Clare it just never registered that it could be me.
"A few weeks later we were at home and I casually mentioned that I got a EuroMillions ticket in Ardnacrusha. The house went absolutely wild with the anticipation as we searched for this ticket and we haven’t stopped celebrating since."
Discussing her plans for her windfall, she said: "The shopping list has been drawn up so we’ve a small few things to buy before we start acting sensibly with the money.
"I’m driving a banger of a car at the moment so I’ll definitely be trading that up! We’ll take care of the family of course but not before I take them all away on a sun holiday before Christmas."
Meanwhile, another visitor to the National Lottery today was young Limerick man who travelled to Dublin on the train to claim €30,000 which he won an All Cash Tripler scratch card purchased in O’Neill’s Mace on William Street in Limerick city, a shop where, coincidentally, he also works.
He said he almost threw the golden ticket away as he forgot to scratch the second game at the bottom.
"I had scratched the card and thought I had won nothing but I scanned the ticket out of habit from working in retail. A message came up on screen to contact the National Lottery. I thought that was very strange so I took a closer look and realised I had forgotten the second game. Still that didn’t prepare me for shock I got when I saw it was thirty grand."
He said he would put the money towards college fees, as he is currently on “a year out”, and is starting again in September next. Then he said he was going to get a nice holiday in before Christmas.
