A large family syndicate in Mayo has come forward to claim the largest ever Lotto jackpot in the history of the state.
The record-breaking €19.06 million jackpot was won on Saturday, January 15, after rolling over for months.
The ecstatic family syndicate, who wish to remain anonymous, won their life changing prize with a Quick Pick ticket they bought at Laura’s XL store in Castlebar town.
Discussing the exact moment that they realised they had the all-important winning ticket, a spokesperson from the syndicate said that Saturday night is still a blur.
“Even though we’re finally collecting a cheque for over €19 million, we’re still waiting for somebody to tell us that we made a mistake and we’re not the winners at all!”
“There was a lot of excitement about the draw that night, so we watched it on the television at home.”
“I had the ticket in my hand and to see the six numbers come out one after another was like an out of body experience – it’s impossible to explain.”
“We didn’t get carried away one bit because we thought that there was no way we could have won it.”
“We got the phones out and frantically started scanning it on the National Lottery App.”
“After about 20 minutes, the ticket scanned, and a message popped up that will live with us all for the rest of our lives. It said, ‘You’ve won big!’ It was such an incredible moment.”
Over the course of the Lotto jackpot roll sequence which saw the jackpot capped for the first time ever, an incredible €87 million was won in prizes in the main Lotto game.
This included almost €24 million in excess jackpot prize funds which were distributed to lower winning prize tiers.
The National Lottery have also confirmed that the jackpot roll sequence alone raised in excess of €60 million for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.
After claiming their prize at Lotto HQ in Dublin city centre, the large family excitedly discussed how they have come to terms with being Ireland’s largest Lotto jackpot winners ever and how they plan to make the very most of their new found fortune by helping their close friends and the wider community.
