Big Laois Lotto winner who plays every week 'never ever checks' numbers

A weekly Laois lotto player who picked numbers worth more than a quarter of a million last October has finally collected his winnings had admitted that he never actually checks his ticket.

The National Lottery issued a statement about the winner after three lotto players collected €900,000 worth of winnings at Laois HQ.

The Lotto said Laois man had his family to thank for his good Lotto fortune after he claimed a prize worth €263,058, over two months after buying a ticket in the draw on Saturday, November 25 in Portarlington. 

The relieved Laois man told how he would have missed out on his prize entirely had it not been for one of his family members spotting a post about the unclaimed Lotto prize on social media.

“I buy Lotto tickets every week but I have a very peculiar and probably a very bad habit…. I never ever check them if I hear there is no winner of the jackpot and also if the jackpot was won elsewhere in the country. Luckily, I didn’t throw out the ticket because that would have been a very expensive mistake. Last Monday night, the family frantically searched the house for old tickets, scanning old and expired tickets on their phone but eventually one of the tickets scanned and made an extra loud noise letting us know it was a winner – we knew we had it then, it was incredible.

“I’ve definitely learned my lesson and my advice to any other Lotto player in the country is to check their tickets regardless of the results – because you just never know. We’re going to have a great family celebration over the coming days and I’m looking forward to putting a plan together to share the entire prize out among the entire family – it’s the least I could do because I’d have missed out otherwise if it weren’t for them,” he said. 

The winner came forward within days of an appeal made by the National Lottery to Lotto players in Laois to check their tickets as the prize had not been claimed.  

The Lotto said the Laois winner matched five numbers and the bonus in the Saturday night draw after purchasing their winning Quick Pick ticket on the day of the draw at the Maxol service station on the Dublin Road in Portarlington that's owned by Kevin and Maeve Bracken who sold a €1m ticket win at their Portlaoise service station shop in 2019.

The winning Lotto numbers were: 13, 17, 21, 22, 37, 42 and the bonus was 2.

Meanhile, a Kerry man was delighted to collect his €500,000 top prize which he won in the EuroMillions Plus draw on Friday, December 15. The winning ticket was purchased at the Tesco store in Tralee. 

“Do you know that I actually did realise that I had won the top prize back at the time of the draw but I decided to take my time to collect it. I’m not sure what it was but it’s such a huge amount so I wanted to have a think about it and come to terms with the win. It certainly isn’t something that happens everyday! The very first thing I did was sign the back of the ticket and hid it away in the middle of a book in a drawer at home. 

“I am over the moon and hoping now that I have the cheque in my hand that it might sink in properly so I can plan what to do next. It’s still like a dream at the moment to be even sitting here,” he said. 

Another Co. Clare player took their time in claiming another huge lottery prize after they collected a €100,000 Millionaire Raffle prize from 31st December 2023. The winning ticket was purchased at the Daybreak Store in Drumgeely, Shannon, Co. Clare.