April was a truly memorable month for National Lottery players all over the country including two top prize winners who took the titles of 15th and 16th National Lottery millionaires of the year so far!
Compiled from National Lottery claims data with all prizes totalling 15,000 and above (10,000 and above for online winners)
On Saturday 9th April, a Lotto player in Louth scooped the top prize of €1 million in the Lotto Plus 1 draw. The Wee County winner became the 15th millionaire of 2022 after purchasing their winning ticket was purchased at the Spar Cherrymount store on the Donore Road in Drogheda. A Drogheda man, who is remaining anonymous, claimed the life-changing prize and spoke of the overwhelming shock and joy he felt after checking his numbers: “It was a normal day and I was just going about my usual routine when I decided to sit down with a cup of tea and check my ticket. First, I saw I had three numbers and then four and then you can imagine the shock when I went through them all. I couldn’t tell you how many times I checked my numbers – I was scanning with the ticket with my phone and then looking over the numbers myself to be fully certain. I decided to give a family member a call then to get them to have a look as well. Sure then the two of us were double checking!”
“It’s been nerve-wracking holding on to the ticket since the big night so I’m delighted to finally be in the Winners Room to hand it over! It still seems so surreal so I’ll definitely be taking my time to decide what to do next.”
On the same night, over 107,000 players nationwide won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus games which also included a player in Longford who matched five numbers and the bonus in the main draw to win an incredible €195,697. The winning ticket was purchased at the Dunnes Stores at Weavers Site on the Dublin Road in Longford.
In the following draw on Wednesday 13th April, a Cavan player matched five numbers and the bonus to win €42,414 after purchasing their winning ticket at Cronins on Chapel Street in Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan.
A Limerick Lotto player had an unforgettable Easter Saturday after winning the top prize of €250,000 in the Lotto Plus 2 draw on 16th April. The Centra store in the Woodview Shopping Centre in Moylish, Old Cratloe Road on the outskirts of Limerick City sold the winning ticket.
An online player in Kerry won an incredible €161,300 on Saturday 23rd April after matching five numbers and the bonus after purchasing their ticket online. The Saturday night draw also marked the third Lotto Plus Raffle promotion of the year which saw 94 players get a massive boost to their winnings as the National Lottery topped up the Lotto Plus Raffle with an additional €1 million. The Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 80 and 120 winners of €500 in every draw. In that particular draw, there were 94 Raffle winners which meant the boosted prize fund divided out to a prize of €11,138 for each Raffle winner.
The last Lotto draw of the month saw a player in the Blanchardstown area of Dublin match five numbers and the bonus to win €106,138. The winning ticket was purchased at the Tom Stanley kiosk in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Dublin 15 for the 30th April draw. The popular kiosk store also sold a winning Match 5 + Bonus ticket just weeks before for the 26th March draw worth almost €150,000.
A EuroMillions player in Meath matched five numbers in the Tuesday 5th April draw to win €16,184 after purchasing their ticket at the Spar shop on Market Street in Trim.
The following week on 12th April, it was a Wexford family in the Sunny South East celebrating after becoming the largest EuroMillions winners in Ireland during the month of April after winning the top prize of €500,000 in the Tuesday EuroMillions Plus draw. The winning ticket was purchased at Hughes Foodmarket in the village of Ballymoney in Gorey, Co. Wexford. The winners spoke of the disbelief they initially felt when they realised just how much their ticket was worth: “I wouldn’t usually check my ticket immediately; usually it could be a few days or even weeks before I think of scanning my tickets. But when I heard where the winning ticket was sold, I had to check straight away. I was on a break from work at the time so it was certainly a mad feeling going back to finish the day off knowing I was half a million euro better off!”
Since winning the top prize amount, the family have been busy making sensible plans and thinking ahead to the future: “Paying off our mortgage and bills is definitely the priority right now. We won’t be rushing into making any other plans but one thing we’re eager to do is to get away on a family holiday in the sun to celebrate.”
On Friday 15th April, over 59,000 EuroMillions players in Ireland won prizes across the EuroMillions and EuroMillions Plus games including a Cavan player who matched five numbers to win €22,833. Their winning ticket was purchased in Hickson Supervalu on Bridge Street in Tullow.
A Daily Million player in Cork became the official 16th National Lottery millionaire of 2022 after winning the top prize of €1 million in the 2pm draw on Thursday 28th April. The Rebel County player also took the title of fourth Daily Million top prize winner of the year so far following €1 million wins in Kildare, Dublin and Mayo. The winning ticket was sold at W&H O’Keefe Newsagents on the Main Street in Mallow.
Throughout the month, three online players scooped the Match 5+Bonus prize worth €10,000 in the Daily Million draw. A Galway player got their week off to an incredible start after winning their €10,000 prize in the 9pm draw on Monday 4th April. Just over two weeks later, a Cork player won a similar prize in the 9pm draw on Tuesday 19th April. A Daily Million player in Donegal got their Bank Holiday weekend off to a great start after winning their Match 5+Bonus prize in the 2pm draw on Friday 29th April.