€1 Million Lotto Ticket Almost Recycled by Cork Family
Last Updated: Tuesday 27th September 2022, 09:30 am
A family from West Cork have revealed they left a winning €1 million Irish Lotto ticket sat in their recycling pile for around four weeks, unaware it was worth a seven-figure windfall. The married couple only retrieved the ticket from the pile after searching for an old phone bill nearly a month later.
Winning Ticket Hid Out of Sight
The duo, who have decided to remain anonymous, bought their lucky Plus 1 line from the Spar/Applegreen store on Cork Road in Skibbereen ahead of the draw on Saturday 17th November. They matched the numbers 4, 25, 27, 28, 39 and 41 to land the jackpot.
The wife explained: “A few days after the draw, we heard the doorbell going so I frantically shouted at my husband to clear up the kitchen and make it presentable for visitors. Anything he could get his hands on he scooped it into a basin and hid it out of sight in the porch. Among that pile was the winning Lotto ticket – we’re absolutely blessed that we didn’t lose it.”
It wasn’t until nearly a month later that they dug out the winning ticket, and she continued: “I received a notification to pay my phone bill so it was only then I remembered that the bill was in the basin in the porch along with all of the other rubbish which was all destined for the recycling bin.
“We were convinced we had won a Christmas hamper”
The new millionaires said they only checked the lottery ticket after sifting through all the bits of paper for their phone bill. The wife revealed: “I was with my husband in the kitchen when I scanned the ticket on my phone and a message popped up to say that we had to call the National Lottery to claim a prize.
“We were convinced that we had won a Christmas hamper and were genuinely over the moon to get something like that in time for Christmas. As soon as I paid my phone bill, I gave the National Lottery a call and I was left absolutely shaking when I was told that we were the €1 million winners all along.
“I started screaming and shouting at my husband who hadn’t a clue what was going on!”, she said. They haven’t yet decided what to do with their winnings, so intend to pay it into the bank before coming up with a plan of action over the Christmas period.
