A family from Co Mayo officially became multi-millionaires on Wednesday when they collected their jackpot of €13.7 million at the National Lottery offices in Dublin.
The winning ticket, a €10 four-line Quick Pick, was sold by Carey’s Newsagents and Bookshop in Belmullet.
The family, who do not wish to be identified, said they planned to take their first ever skiing holiday, to go to the Euro 2016 finals in France and to help family members with mortgages and bills.
Newsagent owner Lorraine O’Connor said she was both “delighted and very relieved” that the local family had collected its winnings although she still didn’t know their identity.
"I've burned the CCTV footage recorded in the shop on Saturday, and don't need to know who it is," Ms O'Connor told The Irish Times.
“Erris people are great, as they will let people get on with their lives — but if anyone is walking around in big snow boots, they might be followed,” she joked.
In a statement released by the National Lottery, the winning family said: “We needed to check the ticket online so many times on Sunday evening, once we realised the winning ticket had been sold in Mayo, and then in Belmullet. It’s a small place, so we knew we had a sporting chance of being the lucky ones, but you really never, ever think that it will be you.”
“We’re going to bank the jackpot straight away, have a lovely celebratory dinner this weekend, and think about what we’re going to do. We both work fulltime, and don’t intend giving up our work. We do intend using this win to make our lives, and those of our families, more secure financially. It’s just great to know that there’s plenty available for a rainy day for everyone we care about”, they said.
“We play Lotto all the time, and have had some small wins,” they added, “but this is tremendous, and very unreal. We played a €10 Quick Pick ticket in Careys in Belmullet for the big jackpot on Saturday last.
“We’re really thrilled for Careys as well, and delighted that the biggest jackpot of the year came to Mayo. Normally, we play family numbers, but just because it was such a big jackpot, we decided to play a Quick Pick. Look what happened!”
