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A family is celebrating today after grabbing the latest Lotto jackpot of nearly € 5.4 million.
The Co Kilkenny Large Family Union recounted how they laughed after hearing that they had won the huge € 5,395,798 jackpot from the drawing on Wednesday 23 September.
They said they haven’t stopped smiling ever since and have visited banks to pay off mortgages with their new cash.
The winning ticket was purchased at DeLoughry’s Gala store on the outskirts of Kilkenny city on the day of the drawing.
(Image: Vicky Comerford / Mac Innes Photography)
The family, wishing to keep their victory private, claimed victory through an approved postal claims process introduced due to the pandemic.
Kilkenny’s father who runs the family’s Lottery syndicate explained how he realized his big win when he saw his lucky numbers in a newspaper at his local store.
He said: “We have been playing the exact same lottery numbers for over 25 years, so I was able to see them from a mile away.
“I was queuing at the store when I saw them out of the corner of my eye at the top of one of the newspapers.
“It was at that exact moment, I knew instantly that we had won more than five million without even having to check the ticket.”
After calmly exiting the store as the latest Irish lottery winner, the Kilkenny man summoned his family back home, where they nervously awaited the news his father was about to share.
The man added: “Anyone who has ever played the lottery will have fantasized about the first time you broke the news of a big win to your family and it was honestly everything I envisioned.
“When I walked through the front door, I told them that I had something important to say to them, and from the looks on their faces, I knew they were expecting bad news!
“Once I let it go, we honestly fell to the ground laughing and we haven’t been able to stop smiling since.
“It’s really life changing for all of us and we are going to absolutely enjoy every penny of this win as a family.”
(Image: Vicky Comerford / Mac Innes Photography)
After two weeks of quiet celebrations, the Kilkenny family said they will go out of their way and start making serious plans to ensure their new fortune changes their lives for many years to come.
The winning parent added: “This will make a big difference in our lives.
“The pandemic has been difficult for every household in the country and we are no different.
“We’ve had just over two weeks to drop the win, but now we can start making real plans for our winnings now that we have the check in our hands.
“We won’t be in a rush to spend a lot of money on new cars or anything like that, but the only thing we’ve been waiting for is visiting our own individual banks to pay off our mortgages.
“There really is no better feeling than that.”
This is the 25th lottery jackpot to be won in Kilkenny since lottery play began in 1988. These 25 jackpots total more than € 34.7 million.
So far this year, more than € 100 million in prizes have been won in the Lotto game, which includes 16 new millionaires that have been created in the Lotto and Lotto Plus games.
Almost 30 cents of every euro spent on all National Lottery games goes back to good causes. In total, more than 5.8 billion euros have been raised since the National Lottery was established 33 years ago.
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