I thought it was a joke when someone told me I won the Lotto – now I get €2,000 a month

A LUCKY Irish Lotto punter who won a huge prize in a special draw has admitted: “It's not a phone call I expected to receive.”

The Co Dublin player will collect €2,000 a month for five years after scooping the prize in the special Leap Day promotion last month.

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The special draw, which took place on February 29, saw one lucky Irish player take home the prize.

The lucky gambler, who bought his ticket online, collected his winnings at Lotto headquarters and confessed that the win was such a shock that he thought the call from the Prize Claims Team was a joke.

They explained: “I got a call from the Claims Manager the day after the draw and he told me he had good news for me and then told me exactly what I had won.

“It's not a call I expected, so there may have been some strong language used during that call.

“He totally caught me off guard, so it took some convincing.”

The player admitted: “I went back and looked at my emails and online account and of course compared the phone numbers.

“I think it's normal now to assume it was a joke, but thank God it wasn't!”

The shocked winner finds it hard to believe he has won, but that doesn't stop him from making plans for how to spend the prize money.

They said: “I still can't believe I won, even though I'm sitting here.

“To think that the first prize I won was €2.50 and from all the winners that evening I was selected for an extra promotional prize.

“I've never won anything in my life, so it's definitely a lot to understand.

“The first plan of action is to celebrate a big holiday and then we'll see!”

EuroDreams is a new game style for the National Lottery, where players win a spread amount instead of a lump sum.

The February 29 winner admitted that this was part of the appeal of the game, saying: “Leaving the winners room without an actual check is definitely unique and probably not the way most of us imagine our visit here, but to be fair Since the game launched, EuroDreams has become the regular game I play now.”

They added: “I find the annuity price more attractive than a huge lump sum lump sum, as is the case with most games.”

Meanwhile in Cork, the winner of the 100,000 New Year's Eve draw has emerged just in time to claim his money.

The deadline for claiming the whopper prize of the New Year's Eve draw was set for March 30.

The lucky player, who bought his ticket from the Friars Road Post Office in Turners Cross, is now making arrangements to collect his prize.