Champagne popped as Moville store toasts Lotto millionaire

Moville shopkeeper Gerry Doherty plans to throw a big bash for his staff after a lucky punter won a cool €1million with a ticket bought in his shop.

The winning ticket, a Quick Pick, was bought at the Doherty's Centra Store on Good Friday.

The life-changing prize will be winging its way to the lucky winner – who has yet to come forward to claim their prize.

The prize was won in the special Lotto Plus Raffle event on Saturday night, crowing the seventh National Lottery millionaire of 2024.

“I was absolutely delighted to get the call from the National Lottery to say that we sold the €1 million winning ticket in Saturday’s draw,” Mr Doherty said.

“It’s absolutely life-changing for the winner but even for the store, this is a big year for us so it’s perfect timing for a big win.

“2024 marks 40 years that the Doherty business has been in operation and 20 years that the store has been open too so this really gives us even more to celebrate.

“All of the staff here in store are delighted that one of our customers is now a millionaire and I am planning on putting the agent selling bonus to good use by throwing a big party for the entire team – it’s important to celebrate these things and what better excuse could there be.”

While the Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 60 and 120 winners of €500 in every drawn, the Easter Saturday draw saw the winning Moville player enjoy an even higher windfall due to a special Raffle event.    

Each of the tickets with the winning Lotto Plus Raffle number drawn in the draw were entered into a once-off random draw where one ticket was selected to win an additional prize of €1 million. 

The National Lottery are urging all Lotto players who may have purchased their tickets at Doherty’s Centra in Moville to carefully check their tickets from Saturday’s draw.

The winner is advised to sign the back of their ticket and keep it safe. They should contact the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and arrangements will be made for them to collect their prize in Lotto HQ.

Mr Doherty said: “We have been saying all weekend that we hope the winner has checked their ticket by now. Imagine seeing that amount pop up when you check your Raffle number! We are telling everyone popping into the shop to make sure they check their tickets because you never know, it could be you.”

Another National Lottery player in Dublin become a millionaire after they scooped the top prize of €1 million in Friday’s Daily Million draw. The Dubliner won the life-changing prize with a €2 Quick Pick ticket which they purchased online.

Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language.

In total, more than €6 billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 36 years ago. In 2022 alone, €259.5 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.