Here are some of our biggest winners from August!
Even with summer coming to an end, things continued to heat up for National Lottery players all over Ireland with three new millionaires winning life-changing amounts across the month of August.
Compiled from National Lottery claims data with all prizes totaling 15,000 and above. 10,000 and above for online winners. This may include more than one prize won on an individual ticket.
The first Saturday of the month saw a player in Laois scoop the top prize of €250,000 in the 5th August Lotto Plus 2 draw. The lucky player purchased their winning ticket at the Centra store on the Dublin Road in Portlaoise.
On the same night, an online player in Limerick matched five numbers and the bonus in the main draw to win €139,269. The online winner admitted that she did not initially realise that she had even won a prize until she got a phone call from the National Lottery.
“I was at home when I saw a call coming through from a number that I didn’t recognise. It was a massive shock when it was the National Lottery Claims Department on the other end of the line telling me that I had won big in the Lotto. I was definitely sceptical at first but I logged into my account while I was on the phone and to say I was jumping for joy when I saw the winning amount staring back at me would be an understatement. Thank god I answered the call!”
“It was certainly an unexpected amount to win so we are hoping to put the funds to good use and take a holiday over the coming months to celebrate.”
Just a few days later, a Leitrim family had a Wednesday they will never forget after they won a truly life-changing Lotto jackpot prize worth €4,257,050.
The jubilant family travelled to Lotto HQ over three weeks after they matched all six numbers in the draw on Wednesday 9th August to become the 9th Lotto jackpot winners of 2023. The winning ticket was purchased at Baxter’s Centra store in the centre of Mohill town in Co. Leitrim.
“We’re just glad to hand over the all-important ticket after minding it and keeping it safe for over three weeks. It’s been incredibly stressful,” laughed the leader of the winning family syndicate.
The syndicate lead discussed how they found that they had hit the jackpot straight after the draw, but they didn’t tell their fellow syndicate members for another two days!
“It really has been an absolutely mad couple of weeks since the draw. I was sat at home on that Wednesday night, and I checked the ticket on my phone straight after the draw. I just couldn’t believe it when that message came up on my phone. I was in a complete state of shock. I didn’t tell any of the rest of the family for another two days and I literally only told them when we started seeing the celebrations in Baxter’s shop in Mohill,” they said.
Plans to spend their winnings have been top of the agenda for the past number of weeks but the Leitrim syndicate said that they would be sensible with their new found fortune:
“Well, we’ve had over three weeks to get our heads around the win and plan for our winnings. We do have some spending plans in place, but we won’t be losing the run of ourselves! There will be mortgages paid off and houses bought for sure. They’re the big-ticket items. I think we are all planning to upgrade our cars and we are also in the process of booking a big family holiday to Australia shortly to visit some of our family there. Honestly, this is a magical experience and it’s even nice to be enjoying the win with all of our family,” they added.
Over 72,000 players nationwide won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus games in the Wednesday night draw including two winners of the Match 5 + Bonus prize, each receiving €18,872. One of the winning Match 5 Plus Bonus tickets was sold at Carr’s Supermarket on Lord Edward Street in Ballina, Co. Mayo, while the second winning ticket was purchased by a player from Dublin online or on the National Lottery app.
A week later, another Dublin Lotto player was celebrating after winning €83,701 in the Wednesday 16th August draw. The winner matched five numbers and the bonus in the main draw after purchasing their ticket at Centra on the Terenure Road in Dublin 6.
On Saturday 19th August, a player in Monaghan became the 27th National Lottery millionaire of 2023 after a special Lotto Plus Raffle. The Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 60 and 120 winners of €500 in every draw but that particular draw saw one player enjoy an even higher windfall due to a special Raffle event. Each of the tickets with the winning Lotto Plus Raffle number drawn in the Saturday 19th August draw were entered into a once-off random draw where one ticket was selected to win an additional prize of €1 million. While every ticket holder who had the winning Raffle number won €500, one player won €1 million, in addition to the usual €500 prize. The winning ticket was purchased at Centra on Main Street in Emyvale, Co. Monaghan.
That night, a Dublin player also had a Saturday to remember after matching five numbers and the bonus in the main draw to win €50,055. The winner scooped their weekend prize after purchasing their winning ticket at Adrian Peters Newsagents on The Rise in Mount Merrion, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
A Daily Million player in Monaghan had a life-changing Friday on 21st July after winning the top prize of €1 million in the 9pm draw. The Drumlin County player purchased their winning ticket at Fleming’s Supervalu on Church Square in Monaghan Town.
So far this year, the Daily Million game has had seven €1 million top prize winners while the Daily Million Plus game has seen four €500,000 top prize winners.
July saw two online players scoop €10,000 each after matching five numbers and the bonus in the main draw. In the 9pm draw on 26th of July, an online player in Kildare was the biggest winner while in the 2pm draw on the 28th July, it was an online player in Galway celebrating a €10,000 win.
A EuroMillions player in Galway got their weekend started in style on Friday 4th August after matching five numbers to win €16,555. The winning ticket was purchased at Newspoint in Galway Shopping Centra.
On Friday 11th August, an online syndicate from Limerick was jumping for joy following their €1 million EuroMillions ‘Ireland Only Raffle’ win. Typically, in every single EuroMillions draw, ten players in Ireland win €5,000 each on the ‘Ireland Only Raffle’. On that particular night, an additional €1 million was added to the special raffle draw and among those ten winners of €5,000, one of those winners won an additional €1 million.
The syndicate manager admitted that she didn’t believe the news when she originally found out: “I got the call from the Claims Departments to say that we won €1 million and my first thought was that it was a prank. I rang the number back three times to make sure it wasn’t some sort of joke! I have never logged into my account so quick to check my ticket.”
The Treaty County syndicate members all found out about their good news in very different ways to one another.
“At the time, I was at home dealing with a sick dog so to say it came at the most unexpected and unglamourous time would be an understatement! The next step was telling the rest of the members – one was in a lift and their coverage went just as I was telling them how much we won and others were on holidays already sipping cocktails by the pool so the perfect time to celebrate. We arranged a Zoom call with all of the members and a few of them hadn’t heard the news yet at that stage so we’ve all been at different levels of shock and surprise over the last few weeks.”
Each of the syndicate members are looking forward to making their plans for what to do with their share of the winnings: “We have had the syndicate for almost nine years now so it felt like we were due a win but we never guessed it would be this big! We were all waiting to get to the Winners Room and see the cheque so that it would feel like it’s not just been a dream. We all have our list of things that we’d like to do with our share – it’s a real mix of mortgages, holidays and home renovations. Of course, the first step now is to get our highly-anticipated cheque and to have a bit of a celebration tonight!”
The Limerick syndicate were not the only big winners that night. The EuroMillions Plus draw also produced a top prize winner of €500,000 and the winning ticket was sold at the Applegreen service station in Millennium Park in Naas, Co. Kildare. Meanwhile, a player in Laois matched five numbers in the main EuroMillions draw that night to win €22,008 after purchasing their winning ticket at Supervalu Portarlington in the Arlington Centre.
A week later, two EuroMillions players in Clare and Wexford got their weekend off to a memorable start after matching five numbers in the 18th August EuroMillions draw to win €41,340 each.
The Clare winner scooped their Match 5 prize after purchasing their Quick Pick ticket at SuperValu on Frances Street in Kilrush while the Wexford winner was celebrating their win after purchasing their winning ticket at Spar in Blackwater.
Two Telly Bingo players scooped the Snowball prize across the month of August. The first win came on Friday 4th August for a Wee County player who won €60,005 after purchasing their winning ticket at Londis on Crushrod Avenue in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Two weeks later, a Wexford player enjoyed another Friday win on 18th August. The Sunny South East winner purchased their ticket at Gala Carrigduff in Bunclody to win €45,005.
It was an incredible month for Scratch Card players all over Ireland with a total of 14 winners sharing a total of €870,000 in prizes.
The largest Scratch Card winner of the month was a Carlow woman who claimed the top prize of €250,000 on a €10 Mega Money Multiplier Scratch Card. The local Tullow native, who remained private, purchased her winning Scratch Card at Nolan’s Mace in Tullow, Co. Carlow.
The local woman visited National Lottery HQ with her family and recounted the moment she discovered she’d won the big prize.
“Well, it was my first time ever buying one of the €10 Scratch Cards, I just thought I’d go for something different. I landed home and started scratching and that’s when I thought I’d won €25,000! I was absolutely over the moon about it. So, I rang my daughter to tell her the good news. Not too long after she popped around the house to check the Scratch Card for herself. She goes, mammy, you haven’t won €25,000, I thought oh my god I knew it was too good to be true, I’ve read that card wrong. You’ve won €250,000 she roared!!! Well, I nearly dropped to the floor, we were jumping and cheering and crying, the lot”, she said.
The Tullow woman described what the next couple of days were like following the suspenseful reveal: “I slept with the Scratch Card for the next three days, I wasn’t letting it out of my sights. Word kind of got out around the town and some locals know about the win, I’ve been getting handshakes and rubbed for good luck! They are all genuinely happy for me and it's created a bit of a buzz around the place, it’s been lovely”, she added.
Meanwhile, a Limerick woman had to do a double take on an All Cash Spectacular Scratch Card after revealing the top prize amount of €200,000. The winning €10 Scratch Card was purchased at the Circle K on Childers Road in Roxboro.
Sitting in the Winners’ Room in Lotto HQ, the winner admitted that she didn’t realise that she was a top prize winner immediately.
“I popped into the shop to grab a drink and decided to get a Scratch Card while I was there. I scratched the All Cash Spectacular when I left and I initially thought that I had won €20,000. I was absolutely thrilled with that and even started telling friends about the win. It was a while before I actually realised that there was an extra zero at the end of the figure! I was showing the Scratch Card to a friend and they pointed it out to me! To think, there I was delighted with my €20,000 win when I’d actually won €200,000. It was definitely the best thing I’d ever had pointed out to me, that’s for sure!”
“There’s been a lot of excitement over the last few days that the news hasn’t really had time to sink in yet. Now that I have the cheque in my hand, I can actually start to plan and think about what to do next,” she said.