A Wicklow couple sheepishly handed in a tea-bag stained winning Lotto ticket to officials at National Lottery HQ in Dublin today.
The pair collected a cheque for a staggering €250,000 after they scooped the jackpot on the Lotto Plus 2 draw on Saturday, May 7.
The winning ticket was sold at Centra, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow on the day of the draw.
The winning couple, who wish to remain private, after they retrieved it from their kitchen bin on the Monday after the draw.
As they sipped champagne in the luxury of the National Lottery Winner’s Room, the lucky couple could only laugh at their good fortune.
One of the winners said: “I suppose we were so focused on the larger Lotto jackpot that we didn’t check our tickets properly.
“It was the following Monday when I heard that a €250,000 winning ticket was sold in the town.
“I remember saying that I had hoped that it would be a local winner - little did I know it was us!
“We knew that we had a couple of numbers in one of the draws so there was a niggling doubt about the ticket.
“I got a print out of the results from the newsagent and when I got home, I emptied the bin in the kitchen and found the ticket under all the rubbish from the past two days. We could not believe our luck when the numbers matched up.”
Discussing how they would spend their winnings, one of the couple said: “It is a tremendous amount of money to win so we will take some time out before we decide to do anything with it.
“We will probably throw a small party for our family and close friends over the next couple of days to celebrate the win properly.”
Tuesday’s EuroMillions jackpot is an estimated €20m.