Irish family claims ‘surreal' 250m euro EuroMillions jackpot
One member was in Cork city before the huge lottery draw and stopped at Clifford's Centra in Shandon Street.
The jackpot had reached the maximum amount on June 6 after rolling over several times.
'I saw the sign at the till that the EuroMillions jackpot was 250 million euro,' he told the National Lottery.
'Although I'm a regular player, I hadn't bought a ticket for the last two draws. I picked one up and honestly didn't think much of it.'
He described watching the RTE evening news and the moment he checked the ticket.
'I was watching the Nine O'Clock News and saw that someone in Ireland had the winning EuroMillions ticket. So naturally, I got my ticket and scanned it on the National Lottery app, and a message popped up, 'You've won big, contact the National Lottery'.
'Obviously, this wasn't a message that I was used to seeing, so I must have checked it four more times, I just couldn't believe my eyes.
'I ran upstairs to my wife who had just gone to bed and woke her up. We both checked the numbers multiple times on the website. We sat at the edge of the bed, saying 'Oh my god' over and over – I reckon we said it about 50 times. We were in total shock, complete disbelief.
'As you can imagine, sleep was out of the question that night.'
They set an alarm for early the following morning to call the National Lottery and the claims team confirmed they had won 250 million euro.
Store manager Simon Champ and Premier Lotteries Ireland chief executive Cian Murphy at Clifford's Centra in Cork (Mac Innes Photography/National Lottery/PA)
'Those few minutes felt like the longest of my life,' the winner said.
'When Ronan from the claims team confirmed we were the outright winner, needless to say, we were in total shock all over again.'
The syndicate became the 18th Irish winner and the largest Irish winner of the EuroMillions jackpot.
The winning numbers were 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49, with lucky stars 3 and 5.
Until the golden ticket could be handed over, the family kept it tucked inside an A4 sheet beneath a pile of folded laundry in the bedroom.
In the days that followed, they tried to process the news as they carried on with their daily routines as normally as possible.
Once the winning ticket was safely in the hands of the National Lottery, they followed advice to seek independent legal and financial guidance and have since been slowly adjusting to their new reality.
Asked what they plan to spend the winnings on, he said: 'We're absolutely going on a family holiday.
'We love to travel and there's so many amazing trips we've always dreamed of that we can now make a reality. We're already looking at holiday homes somewhere in the sun.
'We also feel incredibly fortunate now to be in a position where we can buy homes for our children too.'
The members plan to support their wider family including children, grandchildren, close friends and several charities.
Asked if they had any extravagant plans, they said they did not.
One member of the syndicate said: 'I always dreamed of owning a Rolex watch, knowing that I could never afford it.
'I went window shopping last week just to have a look and couldn't believe the price tag of some of the watches. When I phoned my wife to tell her, she said, 'Sure, you can buy them now if you want'.
'I don't think the news has really sunk in yet.'
Despite the life-changing sum, the family insist they are staying grounded, with one saying: 'We're planning to remain in Ireland, and we promised ourselves that we won't let this win change us.'
Another said: 'I'll still be having my favourite ham and cheese sambo for lunch every day!'
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