€1m Lotto win was due to Quick Pick ticket won in previous draw

Winners stay private but say: ‘we’re paying off mortgage’

SAVE for bouncing arrivals, New Years rarely come in as joyously as 2019 did for the lucky family that claimed €1million last week. The windfall was scooped in the Daily Millions draw of Friday, December 28, with a ticket purchased at Applegreen in Manor, Tralee.

Its holders finally claimed the huge sum last week, remaining private and telling the National Lottery how it had been the first Daily Millions ticket they ever bought.

Meanwhile, Lady Luck made a second Lottery visit to Kerry – to Listowel, where one woman scooped €100,000 – even though the winner initially forgot she had bought a Lottery ticket at all. She, too, is remaining private on her good fortune.

The Tralee millionaires said there were a number of ‘incredible’ coincidences that led to their win: “It’s just so hard to believe – there are so many incredible coincidences which have led us to this €1 million win,” they said.

“To be honest, I had never played the Daily Million game before, so I didn’t really know too much about it. I was checking a Lotto ticket from a previous draw and I had two numbers and the bonus ball and unbelievably the prize was a Quick Pick ticket for the Daily Million draw – little did I know it would turn out to be one million,” he said. “We didn’t give the ticket a second thought until we checked the results of the EuroMillions draw. Once we realised that we hadn’t won the €120 million jackpot, I casually swiped the Daily Million ticket on my phone, and up this message popped – we’d just realised we had won a million Euros. It was just unbelievable!”

They have no major plans just yet, but top of their list is clearing the mortgage and all outstanding bills.

And a woman who claimed €100,000 in the Millionaire Raffle – bought in Garvey’s Supervalu, Listowel – also collected their winnings on Friday. “I was at home with my parents when my mum was putting her Millionaire Raffle ticket in the bin, saying that she won nothing. It just dawned on me then that I had a ticket too. I rushed upstairs to where the ticket was sitting for the past week and checked it online. I couldn’t believe it!” she said.