Five million reasons to celebrate for Lotto player

A DUBLIN Lotto player had more than five million reasons to celebrate this Christmas after scooping the jackpot.

The sole winning ticket was bought in Lucan on the day of the draw, earning the purchaser a cool €5,617,764. The main prize had not been won since the December 6 draw, and a surge of interest in the run-up to Christmas made it the biggest jackpot of the year and one of the biggest in the game’s history.

The fact that there was just one winning ticket makes it the third most valuable single ticket bought since the first Lotto draw in 1998.

The winner purchased the €6 Quick Pick ticket from Hillcrest News in Lucan Shopping Centre on Christmas Eve and will have to wait until Tuesday to collect the cheque from National Lottery headquarters.

For the record, the winning numbers were: 1, 20, 21, 24, 38 and 41. The bonus number was 29.

Both Lotto Plus draws on Christmas Eve also brought good fortune for one player each.

A cheque for €300,000 can be claimed by the holder of a ticket bought at Menloe Stores on the Blackrock Road in Cork. Another €6 Quick Pick proved lucky for the Lotto Plus 1 winner, whose identity was unknown to staff at the shop yesterday.

The numbers drawn were: 1, 20, 22, 29, 31 and 36, bonus number 26.

A ticket sold in Co Wicklow matched all six numbers in the Lotto Plus 2 draw (8, 16, 20, 30, 32 and 40), earning its holder a nice €200,000.