“I called back 3 times before I believed them!” – Online syndicate from Limerick shocked at €1 Million EuroMillions win

An online syndicate from Limerick got their week off to a celebratory start with a visit to National Lottery Headquarters to pick up their €1,005,000 winnings from the special EuroMillions Ireland Only Raffle which took place on Friday 11th August. 

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!”

Meanwhile, tomorrow night’s (Tuesday 29th August) EuroMillions jackpot is set to roll towards an estimated €95 Million. Players dreaming of winning big and becoming the next National Lottery Millionaire are reminded that tickets can be purchased in-store, through the National Lottery app or online at www.lottery.ie ahead of the cut-off time for sales at 7.30pm tomorrow evening. 

Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage, and the Irish Language. In total, more than €6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 35 years ago. In 2021 alone, €304 Million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.                

Play National Lottery games responsibly, play for fun.