EuroMillions Winners Collect €28.9 Million Jackpot
Last Updated: Tuesday 27th September 2022, 15:44 pm
A family from the West of Ireland have come forward to claim a €28.9 million EuroMillions jackpot. The delighted winners, who matched the numbers 11, 20, 35, 37, 45 and Lucky Stars 3 and 6 in the draw on Friday 7th July, admitted the enormity of the situation is only just starting to sink in.
The lucky lottery lovers, who purchased their winning entry a day prior to the draw from Umesh Kumar’s Garryduff XL Store on Pound Road in Castlebar, Co Mayo made their way to National Lottery headquarters in Dublin to collect their prize after writing their names in EuroMillions history as the 11th jackpot winners to hail from Ireland.
Opting to remain anonymous, the group told lottery officials: “This has come as a huge shock but we are thrilled.” Clearly overjoyed, the family were filled with cheer as they revealed that the win should “make life easier” and would secure the futures of everyone involved. “It has been a rollercoaster week with lots of butterflies in our stomachs and lots of different emotions,” they smiled.
The full extent of the win may not have sunk in, but the family seemed determined to remain grounded and would not be drawn into making any rash decisions: "We are keeping level heads and we will try to take it all in and we will give it time before we decide what to do with our winnings.” This win now takes the total amount of money won by Irish players past the €1 billion mark since the first EuroMillions draw in February 2004.
The family were presented with their cheque by Dermot Griffin, The National Lottery’s Chief Executive, who was thrilled to hand over such a large sum of money: “We always love seeing happy winners come into our winners’ room here in National Lottery headquarters,” he said. “Not only do we now have our 11th EuroMillions jackpot winner but we have had 14 winners of EuroMillions Plus top prize of €500,000 so far this year.”
However, Griffin also pointed out that the family should be given the chance to adapt following the shock of a huge jackpot win: "It is important these winners take the time and space to let the news sink in,” he explained. "This is an incredible amount of money to win, and we have recommended that the winners get independent financial and legal advice.”
In fact, this is the second time that a ticket purchased in Castlebar has secured a EuroMillions jackpot. The first win came in April 2014, when the winning entry was purchased by an anonymous player from Staunton's Costcutter Express in the town.
