Biggest EuroMillions Winners in Ireland
EuroMillions has created Ireland's biggest lottery winners, with jackpots that have been higher than €100 million. Find out more about the top five biggest prizes to have ever been paid out to players since the country started selling tickets for the game in October 2004.
€175 million on Tuesday 19th February 2019
A family syndicate set the record for the largest jackpot to ever be won in Ireland after a draw that captured the excitement of players all over Europe. A Superdraw on 1st February had pushed the top prize up to €120 million and it kept on growing until a winning ticket from Co Dublin matched all the numbers. The lucky entry was sold at Reilly’s Daybreak in The Naul and the winners were quick to come forward after the news sparked interest excitement across Ireland.
The winners did not choose to go public but they did describe the moment as a 'dream come true', with one member of the syndicate saying they felt 'numb'. They told lottery officials that they had kept the ticket in an Argos catalogue under a mattress on the night after the draw, before handing it over for safe-keeping. They were determined not to get carried away and said the best thing was knowing that everyone in the family would be looked after for generations to come.
€115 million on Friday 29th July 2005
Dolores McNamara, a part-time cleaner from Limerick, snapped up €115 million in July 2005 to become Ireland's first EuroMillions jackpot winner. She planned to travel the world and jetted off on holidays to Turkey and Spain within months of her win, as well as taking a shopping trip to New York and spending Christmas in Cambodia. McNamara went on to spend €3.5 million on Lough Derg Hall in Clare and bought houses for all six of her children. McNamara's prize was the largest jackpot ever to have been won at the time and remained Ireland's record holder for almost 14 years.
€93 million on Tuesday 25th June 2013
One of the largest EuroMillions jackpots in history was offered in this draw, with €187 million up for grabs following a Superdraw earlier in the month and then four more rollovers. There turned out to be two winning tickets – one from Belgium and one from Beaumont in North Dublin. The payout, worth almost €94 million, instantly made the winner one of Ireland’s 100 richest people. They decided to stay anonymous but did say in a statement that they were excited about the new opportunities open to them.
€88 million on Tuesday 24th January 2017
A Dublin work syndicate brought a run of seven rollovers to an end in early 2017, matching all the winning numbers with a ticket bought at the Applegreen Service Station on the M1 Northbound in Lusk. The group decided not to reveal their identities when they came forward but they did tell officials they were 'absolutely delighted'. They said they would have a low-key celebration with loved ones before booking their summer holidays and planning their futures with the financial freedom of not having to worry about mortgages and other bills.
€86 million on Friday 19th September 2014
A syndicate from Dublin pocketed a jackpot in excess of €86 million in September 2014, after buying a ticket from the Centra Store on Church Road in Ballybrack. Their identities remained a mystery as they decided to stay anonymous, but they did describe themselves as being 'on top of the world' when they claimed the money. David Whelan, the owner of the Centra store, also said it was a 'fantastic feeling' to sell such a big winning ticket. He believed that the winners were most likely to be local because it was a store without too much passing trade.