Luck of the Irish! Six sisters scoop £153m jackpot
(...and just look at the celebrations by staff at the shop which sold the winning ticket
SIX sisters have won a £153million lotto jackpot – prompting the shop that sold the ticket to crack open the bubbly.
The sisters each got £25,450,628 after Tuesday’s Euromillions draw in Ireland’s biggest ever lotto haul. But at least one sibling missed out after not joining the family syndicate.
The winning ticket was sold at Reilly’s Daybreak in Naul, Co Dublin, pocketing owner Les Reilly £21,000. He said: “I’m over the moon and can’t believe it. We never sold a big one before.
“The lottery contacted us and said ‘You sold a winner.’ I had to run down the back and puke, no word of a lie. I don’t know anything about the ticket. If it’s who I think it is, I’d be over the moon for them.”
The sisters matched winning numbers 01, 08, 18, 19 and 39, and the Lucky Stars 07 and 09. Five tickets won £275,601.
Lottery spokeswoman Miriam Donohoe said: “For a small community like Naul, it gives the community a huge lift and creates a great buzz of excitement.”
One of the sisters stuffed the winning ticket inside an Argos catalogue and put it under her mattress for safekeeping.
The winners, originally from Duleek in Co Meath, claimed the £152,703,769 prize yesterday.
One sibling was named as Kathleen Sheridan. Irish Lottery chiefs confirmed the winners were a “large family syndicate”. They were said to be in their 50s and 60s.
One sister said: “I was numb. It took a bit of convincing everybody that we had won. I didn’t sleep a wink all night.”
The sisters met weekly at their mum’s house to play the lotto and continued after she died.