Irish winner of €250m EuroMillions jackpot beats previous record-breaking amount by millions

Sunday World

4 hours ago

Whomever has plucked the magic numbers of 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49 and Lucky Stars of 3 and 5, has set a new bar for winning in Ireland
The massive €250m EuroMillions jackpot won by an Irish ticket holder has beaten the previous record-breaking amount by millions
Whomever has plucked the magic numbers of 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49 and Lucky Stars of 3 and 5, has set a new bar for winning in Ireland
Since the game started in 1988, there have been a number of impressive jackpots with the biggest winners claiming multimillion-euro prizes.
But the €250m win puts the €175m won by a family syndicate from Co Dublin in 2019 in the shade.
They had held the record for almost 14 years after the most famous lotto winner and previous record holder Dolores McNamara hit the headlines on August 4, 2005.
The Limerick woman arrived at Lotto HQ to collect a cheque for the biggest lotto jackpot in European history at the time.
The moment the 65-year-old woman found out she scooped €115m in the EuroMillions on Friday, July 30 was caught on camera as a friend took what became an iconic photo.
A clearly stunned Dolores declined to speak to the press who had gathered at National Lottery headquarters on the day she picked up her cheque.
Her solicitor later issued a statement and spoke about her 'desire to return to normality as soon as possible' and how she was 'absolutely determined that her feet and the feet of her family, will remain firmly on the ground'.
It later emerged how she was watching the draw on television in her local pub, the Track Bar, in Garryowen, Co Limerick when she pulled her €2 ticket out of her handbag.
After throwing it on the table and asking one of her friends: 'Check that for me', she downed a brandy before breaking into tears.
A barmaid described the scene as 'the drink started flowing and the champagne was poured'.
'We had a great night celebrating. Dolores is a real nice woman and none of her friends believe this will change her drastically.'
It was estimated that Dolores, who became the 58th richest person in Ireland at the time, would earn up to €3 million a year in interest alone.
Dolores has kept a low profile and is rarely photographed or seen out in public but six months after her win she spent €1.7million on Lough Derg Hall - an enormous house set on 38 acres just outside the village of Killaloe.
Dolores additionally purchased houses in and around the area for her six children, Dawn, Gary, Kim, Kevanne, Dean, and Lee.
Dolores's win dwarfs that of the next top five biggest winners including the €16.7m scooped by an anonymous player in Co Waterford in 2010.
In April of that year, a lucky punter from Dungarvan bought an Irish Lotto ticket and claimed more than €16m after the jackpot had rolled over for more than a month. The store owner of the shop the winning ticket was bought in claimed it 'couldn't have happened to a nicer person'.
In 2008, a Dan Morrissey quarry syndicate from Co Carlow won €18.9m with a €32 Quick Pick ticket that landed each member €1.1m.
A slightly larger €19m win was scored by an anonymous winner from Co Mayo in 2022 after an incredible 62 rollovers
Another syndicate – this time in the EuroMillions – saw 22 bus drivers from Dublin secure €23.8m in 2016.
They later drove their buses down to the Lotto headquarters on Abbey Street to collect their winnings before some of them went back to work.
News in 90 Seconds - June 18th
When Frances and Patrick Connolly won the EuroMillions jackpot of €127m on New Year's Day 2019, they bought 1,000 presents for patients hospitalised on Christmas Day, set up the Kathleen Graham Trust in Northern Ireland, and provided hundreds of tablet computers to people isolated during the coronavirus lockdown.
The previous Irish lottery record of €175.4m in the EuroMillions was struck by a family syndicate from The Naul in North Co Dublin, two months on from that win in Co Armagh.
The family, well known in the area for two generations, bought the winning ticket from a Daybreak shop. One family member, upon realising the size of the win, put the winning ticket in an Argos catalogue and under her mattress to keep it safe!
A family spokesperson said: 'We are a very close family. We meet every week and we take holidays together every year. This is a dream come true for us. We don't want this to change our lives. What is so exciting is that we will be able to share this money with children, grandchildren, and extended family members.'