28-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lucky Lotto player 'struggling to believe this is all real' after €1m win
A Lotto player has revealed how an email from the National Lottery lead them to landing a €1 million jackpot win.
The lucky punter bagged the life-changing seven-figure prize after striking it big on the Daily Million 2pm draw from April 14.
The Wicklow man made the trip to Lotto HQ this week to collect his cheque, where he revealed how a prompt from the National Lottery led to him becoming a millionaire.
'I won't lie, it's been a while since I've played any lottery game," he said.
"I got an email from the Lottery team to say there was a balance remaining on my online account, so I decided to put it towards the upcoming Daily Million draw – obviously not thinking much of it."
On receiving his winning notification after the 2pm draw, the man initially skimmed by the email, not reading it properly until later that evening.
'I rang my partner immediately, I didn't know what to do!" he recalled.
"She laughed at me down the phone, telling me I was having her on. I had to log back into the account to see if it was still there – we really couldn't believe it... and to be honest, I'm still struggling to believe this is all real!'
The Daily Million players' one line, worth €1, has now changed his life with a €1 million win, with the Wicklow native planning to use his winnings to clear his mortgage and treat his family to a trip in the sun in the coming months.
Meanwhile, a family syndicate of four from North Dublin retrieved their winning EuroMillions Plus ticket from a safe space in their attic to collect a cheque worth €500,000.
The syndicate had purchased the winning ticket for the EuroMillions draw on April 16 at Tesco in Artane Castle Shopping Centre on Kilmore Road, Dublin 5.
A member of the syndicate revealed how they initially thought the group had bagged a €50,000 prize, before they realised the true extent of their win.
"We are frequent players, but this is absolutely the most amount of money we've ever won! When I heard the win was local, I had to check the ticket – lo and behold, there were our numbers, although I thought we had won €50,000, not €500,000!' the syndicate member said.
Their daughter chimed in: 'When he rang me to share the news all I could say was 'Are you winding me up?', I thought he was calling to deliver bad news.'
Finally, a Meath player made the journey to Lotto HQ to claim the EuroMillions Match 5 prize of €127,814 which he won in the draw on April 15 after purchasing the winning Quick Pick ticket from Mace, Drummond Magheracloone, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
Speaking on the win, the man revealed how a last minute change led to him landing the huge cash windfall.
'This is a funny one because I've been playing my own numbers in the EuroMillions for years, and this is the only time I've bought a Quick Pick – and now look!' he revealed.
'I was away golfing for the weekend, and my ticket was sitting in the car at home. The family had told me they heard the win was in Monaghan, but I had no way of checking it until I got back days later.
"It was the first thing I did when arriving home, and sure enough, no one believed me when I told them the news – I'll admit that I've joked about winning one too many times!'
The Meath Lotto winner has officially decided that he's now going to start alternating playing his own numbers as well as Quick Pick.
Although his initial response to what he's now going to do with the prize was 'I haven't a clue', he quickly came around to deciding on a family holiday.
Meanwhile, Wednesday night's EuroMillions jackpot is set to roll to an estimated €85 million.
Players dreaming of becoming Ireland's newest EuroMillions jackpot winner are reminded that tickets for tomorrow night's draw can be purchased in-store, through the National Lottery app or at ahead of the 7.30pm cut off.
