Record Irish Lotto Winners Keen To ‘Change People’s Lives’
Last Updated: Thursday 10th February 2022, 08:49 am
The record Irish Lotto jackpot from 15th January has been claimed by a family syndicate from Co Mayo. The winners have decided to stay anonymous but have revealed they want to use the €19 million to help others.
The winning ticket, purchased at Laura’s XL store in Castlebar, matched the numbers 2, 9, 16, 30, 37 and 40. It was the first time the jackpot had been won in more than seven months, and actually came in a special ‘Will Be Won’ draw. The jackpot would have been split between everyone in the category below had it not been for the lucky family.
Almost a month later, the money has now officially been claimed and the winners have described how they felt when they discovered the news.
A spokesperson for the group said: “That Saturday night back in January is still a blur. I had the ticket in my hand and to see the six numbers come out one after another was like an out of body experience – it’s impossible to explain.
"One night we were watching the news on TV when somebody in Mayo was interviewed, and they mentioned that they better check their tickets to see if they were the lucky winner.
"One of the family shouted at the TV, ‘Don’t bother checking because we’ve got the winning ticket right here’. We all absolutely burst out laughing knowing that all this fuss was being made and we had the winning ticket all along.”
Having taken a few weeks to think about their plans for the future, the winners are now looking forward to enjoying the money. One of their most important considerations has been how they can use it to make a difference to other people’s lives.
“While we all will have our own individual plans, the big thing we want to do is help our wider family, close friends and indeed our community in any way we can," they said.
"Of course, we will be paying off whatever mortgages and loans that we have, but we have also drawn up a list of people to help in our communities and we look forward to helping out some charities and organisations in the coming months.
"It really is such an exciting time in our lives and we can’t wait to get started to changing people’s lives.”
The previous record for the biggest-ever jackpot had stood for more than 13 years, since a syndicate from Co Carlow won €18.96 million. The unprecedented run of rollovers prompted lottery rulemakers to introduce Will Be Won draws. From now on the jackpot will only be allowed to stay at its cap for a maximum of four draws before it must be won in the next draw.
