Laois €3 m lotto winner says 'I didn’t think anything of it at first'
A Laois person who has one nearly €3 million in the lotto says it was a few days before realising such a huge prize was theirs.
That's what the lucky person, who wants to remain anonymous, told National Lottery staff after collecting their winners after picking out the lucky numbers in October.
The Laois jackpot winner celebrated in Lotto HQ this week after picking up a life-changing cheque worth €2,294,855 which they won online in the Wednesday, October 11 draw.
The Lotto confirmed that the latest big prize brings to more than €40 million won in big prizes in just over a decade in Laois.
A statement from Lotto HQ quoted the latest winner who admitted that it was a few days before they realised their win.
“To think I was walking around for a few days without any idea that I was a Lotto jackpot winner! I have played online for a few years now so I am used to seeing messages and notifications about smaller prizes.
"When I saw the message for this one, I didn’t think anything of it at first, so I logged in as usual and immediately got a huge shock seeing the amount looking back at me. It certainly feels surreal to even be sitting here in the Winners’ Room but the next plan is to take a holiday to celebrate and let the news sink in,” said the winner.
The winner became the 32nd National Lottery after the 02, 12, 16, 24, 39, 40 and the bonus 25 came out of the drum in November.
The Lotto previously published a table of luckiest counties to play the Lotto in over the first 30 years of its existence since it started in 1988. The National Lottery said when publishing the figures in 2018 that players in Laois had been the unluckiest county in Ireland with 1.53 Lotto winners per 10,000 inhabitants despite having 13 Lotto jackpot who have claimed over €24 million since 1988.
The Lotto said Louth was the luckiest county to play the game. The wee county had 76 lucky Lotto jackpot winners who have won in excess of €89 million between them up to 2018.
Meanwhile, the lotto says the Lotto draw on Saturday, November 11 promises bigger prizes after the National Lottery confirmed that it will be adding an additional €1 million to the Lotto Plus Raffle prize fund.
Saturday night’s jackpot is now heading towards an estimated €5 million.
Lotto HQ says that nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage, and the Irish Language. They say that more than €6 billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 36 years ago. Nearly €260 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland in 2022.