Irish Lotto player collects huge Christmas lottery prize with just days to spare

A HAPPY punter is celebrating after collecting a huge National Lottery prize with just four days to spare.

The Cork woman traveled to Dublin to collect a check for €100,000, which she won in the Christmas Millionaire Raffle game.

The deadline to claim prizes for the game is March 30.

She said: “I don't normally keep up with the news so I had no idea that such an important prize in the region went unclaimed.

“It came as a bolt from the blue when I saw the article.

“I suddenly remembered that I had bought a ticket for the draw, but I never thought it would be the winning ticket.

“When I scanned the ticket on my phone and saw the message confirming my win, I was in disbelief.

“Out of sheer shock, I put the card and phone aside, but after a few hours I was finally able to compose myself to double-check that I wasn't dreaming.”

The winning ticket was purchased from the Friars Road Post Office in Turners Cross.

The winner had left the panties in an old handbag after receiving a new bag as a Christmas present.

She continued: “And to think what could have cost me £100,000 was receiving a lovely new handbag for Christmas!

“I feel so blessed that I came across the CorkBeo news article when I did, because I can't imagine how I would have felt if I had found the ticket in a few months, well after the deadline for claiming the Prices.

“I won't dwell on what could have happened because I now have a check for €100,000, which will come in incredibly handy in the coming months.

'We can pay off the remainder of our mortgage and a few bills.

“As a family we agree that we deserve to spend some money on ourselves, so we will definitely be upgrading the car in the coming weeks. It's incredibly exciting for us.”

A National Lottery spokesperson reminded all players of the importance of checking tickets to ensure all prizes, large and small, are claimed.

They said: “Following a nationwide media awareness campaign for this particular Millionaire Raffle prize, we were absolutely over the moon when we finally got the call from this player in Cork to confirm the win, just before the deadline to claim the price.

“With tens of thousands of prize winners in our main draws every week, it is vital that all our players check their tickets after each draw to ensure they don't miss out on any prizes.

“The most common hiding places we see for players keeping lottery tickets are in their cars, in the pockets of jeans and in this case, in old handbags!

“When purchasing, lottery tickets should be treated as a bearer instrument because 'It Could Be You' and the ticket could be worth a life-changing amount of money!”

Meanwhile, Lotto bosses have revealed where two winning tickets were sold this weekend – with players urged to check their slips.

In Friday's EuroMillions Plus draw, a Rebel County player became a top prize winner after winning a life-changing €500,000.

The Cork winner started his weekend in style after purchasing his winning Quick Pick ticket from Downey's Spar on Main Street in Castletownroche.

The winning numbers in the EuroMillions Plus draw on Friday 22 March were: 02, 03, 14, 21, 24.

With no winner of the €29,416,867 up for grabs in the EuroMillions main draw on Friday evening, Tuesday's jackpot will now roll towards an estimated €40 million.

It was a Mayo Lotto player who jumped for joy on Saturday evening after matching five numbers and the bonus in the main draw, winning an incredible €87,616.

The Maritime County player became the night's biggest winner after purchasing his winning Quick Pick ticket on the day of the draw at Casey's Knockcroghery in Castlebar.

The winning numbers in the Lotto draw of Saturday March 23 were: 13, 14, 19, 24, 30, 40 and the bonus was 07.

More than 97,000 players won prizes in the Lotto and Lotto Plus games in Saturday's draw.

Since there was no outright winner of the €5,688,840 jackpot on offer, Wednesday's jackpot will now roll towards an estimated €6 million.