EuroMillions Winner Takes Friends on an Emoji-ful Ride to Claim Prize
Last Updated: Friday 14th October 2016, 13:15 pm
A lucky Co Clare man arrived in Dublin earlier this week to claim his €195,998 EuroMillions prize — bringing his friends and a set of smiling emoji face masks with him.
After successfully matching five numbers and one Lucky Star in the Friday 7th October EuroMillions draw, the Clare man decided to surprise his friends with a trip to the National Lottery headquarters in Dublin to collect his winnings, but refused to tell his pals where they were heading until they had reached their destination.
"We had no idea where he was bringing us until we got inside the door," one of the winner’s friends told the Irish Mirror.
“I could have come on my own,” the unnamed winner added when he spoke to lottery officials about his prize-pickup pilgrimage, “but I wanted to share the experience with my two best friends.”
The fun didn’t end there, however. After sipping on champagne and being presented with an oversized cheque for the sizeable sum, the winner and his friends pulled on smiling emoji head masks for a commemorative photo, making for one seriously emoji-ful moment.
Irish lottery winners are always given the option to remain anonymous, but it is unusual for those who do so to take part in promotional photoshoots. Whether or not the winner from Clare bought the emoji masks specifically for the happy occasion is unclear, but it’s highly likely that he was influenced by a recent trend in China, where some lottery winners have chosen to pick up their cheques while dressed as everything from giant pandas to cuddly robot hero Baymax in order to protect their identities.
The winner says that he plans to use his newfound fortune to pay off his mortgage, but vows to have a few days of fun first and — should there be any money left over once the house is all paid off — maybe even afterwards too. Hopefully he’ll have a few Euro spare for another emoji mask or two!
Tonight’s EuroMillions jackpot is worth €17 million, with tickets available online or from authorised retailers.
