Family celebrates £153m lotto win with a cup of tea
NINE brothers and sisters who shared a record £153million Euromillions jackpot shunned a celebration party in favour of a quiet takeaway.
May Whearty, her four sisters and four brothers from Ireland each pocketed £16.8million from Tuesday’s draw.
Two days on, May declined to comment on her family’s plans when seen leaving her home in Bellewstown, Co Meath.
But they are said to be set to go away on a Spanish holiday that was booked before their win.
A friend said: “It was tea and coffee on the first night, followed by a takeaway. Nothing wild.
“They are a lovely ordinary bunch of people.
“They always go away together to Spain and this year, despite landing the jackpot, they will do the same. No fancy apartments, no posh hotels.
“They will be happy in their package holiday resort and will get there on low-cost flights.”
The original syndicate of four sisters and two brothers met up every Sunday to play.
But they generously added the other three siblings after landing Ireland’s biggest-ever lottery payout.
Lottery bosses said the family were “surprisingly calm” and “very together” after calling the jackpot hotline on Wednesday.
Irish Lottery spokeswoman Miriam Donohoe said: “There was nothing lavish, there was no big splash.
“They are very level-headed people. I think they will really handle this win in a very sensible way.” A relative added: “It’s a life-changing sum of money but it’s not going to change them as people.
“They’re all retired now. They just want to sit back and relax.
“They have no plans yet on what to spend the money on and have no plans for a party.”
Another sibling has been named as Kathleen Sheridan, whose sister-in-law once won £600,000 on the National Lottery.
The relative added: “She is a very kind person – she will probably look after her family.”
The siblings are the 14th Irish winners of Euromillions since it launched in 2004.
It is played in nine countries and the maximum of £165million has only been won three times.