October proved to be a truly life-changing month for National Lottery players nationwide with three players taking the title of Lotto jackpot winners, three €1 million top prize wins and an incredible four EuroMillions top prize wins worth €500,000 each.
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 month kicked off with a Wednesday night draw to remember for Dublin Lotto players with three players winning staggering amounts in the midweek draw.
Two players in the capital became the biggest winners of the night after sharing the €7,734,054 jackpot on offer to scoop a life-changing €3,867,027 each. The two Dublin players took the titles of 10th and 11th Lotto jackpot winners of 2023.
A Dublin family syndicate were thrilled to collect their €3,867,027 cheque after purchasing their winning ticket at the Applegreen service station on the Naul Road in Balbriggan for the 4th October draw.
The family admitted while sitting in the Winners’ Room that the win still felt surreal: “We have been playing the same numbers for years now so as soon as I saw the results, I knew that we had won. I still wanted to check and triple check so scanned the ticket on the phone. I’m used to the message appearing to tell me I’ve won a small amount but when I got the ‘Congratulations’ message telling me to contact National Lottery HQ, I knew we had definitely won.”
Deciding where to keep the ticket proved to be a challenge for the winners who have had a whirlwind week.
“The main priority for the past week has been keeping the ticket safe. I had it hidden in the wardrobe between a pile of folded t-shirts first and then the hiding place kept changing. At one point, I was going to keep the ticket with me everywhere I went but that was too much as well! It’s definitely a lot of pressure so I am delighted to be handing the ticket over today.”
The family plan to take their time in planning what to do with their new fortune.
“I still can’t believe that we’re Lotto jackpot winners – even though we’re finally here in the Winners’ Room! Letting the news sink in fully is the first thing we plan to do. This time last week, we had no idea we’d be sitting here so it’s been a huge few days. As soon as this feels a lot more real, we will start to think about our plans and of course, we’ll need to celebrate.”
It was another syndicate from Dublin who shared the jackpot amount that night after purchasing their ticket at the Spar store at 13 South Circular Road in Dublin 8.
The Dublin winners were quick to realise their good fortune on the night of the draw.
“I was watching the draw as it happened and just knew they were our numbers that had come out. The numbers don’t hold any particular significance to be honest but I just knew they were ours. We checked our ticket immediately and it was a real mix of emotions from excitement to being utterly overwhelmed. There’s just nothing that can prepare you for that. At that stage, we didn’t even know what the exact amount of the jackpot was or of course that there was another winner in Dublin with the same numbers who we were sharing the prize with!”
“When we gathered ourselves, we decided to facetime family members to let them know. I think they definitely thought we were about to tell them bad news so when we finally said that we won the Lotto, the excitement took over and we were all jumping around the place. I really believe that what’s for you won’t pass you by but even still, this is so surreal,” they added.
The syndicate are planning to take their time before they decide how to put their life-changing winnings to good use.
“With the ticket finally out of our hands and with the cheque in front of us, I feel like now we can actually take it in and think about what to do next. The first thing we’ll do is let the news sink in and have a proper think of what we’ll do.”
The Wednesday night draw proved to be a big one for syndicates as on the same night, an online syndicate in Dublin was also celebrating after matching five numbers and the bonus to win €581,131. The online winners scooped their win after purchasing their ticket with the Scheduled Play service in the National Lottery app. The Match 5+Bonus win marks the largest win to date using the service.
The Dublin winners did not waste any time and realised their win immediately.
“We have been playing online for a while now so we are used to getting the emails about smaller wins which are usually around €3 or so but last week’s email was different. I logged into the account to check the ticket straight away and there it was staring back at me, €581,131! Even though I could see it with my own eyes, I certainly didn’t believe it right away. You hear of so many scams happening lately that I was convinced my account must have been hacked.”
The midweek winners admitted that the Scheduled Play service on the National Lottery app proved to be highly beneficial in making sure they had had their ticket.
“As soon as I saw the results for the draw, I knew it was real since we’ve been playing the same numbers for decades! We have been playing the Lotto since it started back in the 80’s. There’s been the odd time that I have forgotten to play but luckily our numbers didn’t come out on those occasions. This particular ticket was actually part of my Scheduled play on the app so at least there was no way I was missing this one. I currently have my scheduled play set up for a year so the service has certainly paid off for me now.”
The winners are now looking forward to sharing their new-found fortune.
“We are planning to celebrate with a big holiday and then we are going to help out our family and friends.”
On Saturday 7th October, two players in Dublin and Galway matched five numbers and the bonus to share a prize fund worth €48,448. The Dublin player scooped their €24,224 amount after purchasing their winning Quick Pick ticket on Friday 6th October at the Bus Stop Kiosk in the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin 14. The Galway player won their share of the Match 5 + Bonus prize after purchasing their winning Quick Pick ticket on the day of the draw at Desmond Salmon on Patrick Street in Portumna.
An online player in Laois became the 12th Lotto jackpot winner of 2023 after scooping the €2,294,855 jackpot in the Wednesday 11th October draw.
The winner admitted that it was a few days before they realised their win: “To think I was walking around for a few days without any idea that I was a Lotto jackpot winner! I have played online for a few years now so I am used to seeing messages and notifications about smaller prizes. When I saw the message for this one, I didn’t think anything of it at first, so I logged in as usual and immediately got a huge shock seeing the amount looking back at me. It certainly feels surreal to even be sitting here in the Winners’ Room but the next plan is to take a holiday to celebrate and let the news sink in.”
On Saturday 14th October, a Wexford syndicate were celebrating in the Sunny South East after purchasing their ticket at Maxol Killeens in Wexford Town to scoop the top prize of €1 million in the Lotto Plus 1 draw.
A member of the syndicate admitted that they are not regular players so got a huge surprise when they saw the numbers on Sunday morning.
“For people who don’t play the Lotto regularly, we got some surprise on Sunday morning! I was reading the Sunday newspaper and just happened to see the Lotto results. At first when I saw the numbers, I was thinking that we had won €350,000. I have no idea why that was the amount I had in mind but I was thrilled with that. Talk about a Sunday morning out of the ordinary! After a while, of course, reality sunk in and I realized just how much we had actually won.”
The weekend winners are in no hurry to spend their winning just yet.
“This is so unbelievably unexpected so we won’t be rushing out to spend our funds just yet. The plan is to let the news sink in and think about what we will do next. It’s a great position to be in!”
Throughout the month of October, we saw four winners of the EuroMillions Plus top prize starting with an online player in Dublin who was celebrating on 3rd October after scooping €500,000 in the Tuesday night draw.
A few days later, two players in Galway and Tipperary won the same prize in the Friday night draw on 6th October. The Galway player purchased their ticket online and admitted that it took some time to fully comprehend.
“I could see the €500,000 there in front of me when I logged into my account on the app but I don’t think it fully registered with me immediately. You don’t expect to win an amount like that or to just see it pop up. As much as you hear of people winning, you just don’t think it’ll be you. I was questioning whether it was real or not at first and then I heard on the news that there was a Galway winner and that confirmed it for me. It took a while for the shock to wear off to be honest but now that I am sitting here in the Winners’ Room, it finally seems more real. I am looking forward to putting the funds to good use to do a few home renovations.”
The Tipperary winner, who scooped their €500,000 prize after purchasing their ticket at Tobin’s Newsagency on the Main Street in Ballingarry, revealed that it took a while to even react to the news.
“It was the next morning before I even found out that my ticket was a winner. I was scanning a few tickets on my phone at the time and there was nothing on most of them. Then I got a €4 prize on one and then I scanned this ticket and saw the message ‘You’ve won Big’. I was a bit taken aback by that. Initially I was thinking it could be something like €2,000 which I would have been delighted with but then I checked my numbers and realised just how much I had actually won. I froze there on the spot with my family around me who didn’t know what was going on. I told them that I got the ‘You’ve won Big’ message so they were waiting for me to tell them what I had won. When I finally got the words out, I think they were even more excited than me sitting there in shock.”
The Premier County player admitted that they did have an omen of good luck before scanning their ticket.
“You can read into it what you will but right before I checked my ticket, I saw a black cat. You never know, in the spirit of the season, maybe that was a sign for a bit of good luck coming my way!”
Tuesday 17th October marked the fourth EuroMillions Plus top prize win of the month when a Mayo player scooped their €500,000 after purchasing their winning ticket at Casey’s Londis on the Circular Road in Ballina.
The last draw of the month saw another Mayo player win big to become the 35th National Lottery millionaire of 2023. A special ‘Ireland Only Raffle’ took place on 27th October guaranteeing that one player in Ireland would win €1 million in addition to the usual €5,000 prize in the Raffle. It was an online player in Mayo celebrating a life-changing win after purchasing their ticket through the National Lottery app for the Friday night draw.
Two Telly Bingo players marked their tickets off to become Snowball winners during October. On Tuesday 10th October, a Dublin player who purchased their winning ticket at Newspark in the Greenpark Shopping Centre in Clondalkin won €45,081 while on Thursday 26th October, a Kildare player scooped €50,010 after purchasing their ticket at News 4 U in the Glenroyal Shopping Centre in Maynooth.
A Daily Million player in Kildare scooped the top prize of €1 million in the 9pm draw on Thursday 19th October after purchasing their ticket at the Centra Curragh Grange store in Newbridge. The Newbridge store is no stranger to big National Lottery wins as they also sold a Lotto jackpot ticket worth €10.2 million in 2015.
It was an incredible month for Scratch Card players with a total of 10 winners sharing an astonishing €435,000 in prizes throughout October.
A syndicate from Laois were delighted to make the trip to Lotto HQ to collect their €100,000 top prize which they won on a €5 Money Multiplier Scratch Card. The winning Scratch Card was purchased at the Maxol on the Dublin Road in Portarlington.
The syndicate admitted that they were quick to get on the phone to the National Lottery Prize claims team to confirm the win.
“I’d say within a half an hour of scratching the ticket, I was on the phone to the claims team to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. It’s just not something that you expect to see at all so you almost convince yourself that it’s not real when it does happen.”
“While any time of year is of course lovely for a win, we had only just been chatting about Christmas and shopping the night before winning so it certainly feels like perfect timing.”
Other large wins included a Dublin player who scooped €50,000 on a €5 Bingo Multiplier Scratch Card after purchasing their winning ticket at Stop Press on Lower Georges Street in Dun Laoghaire. A Mayo player enjoyed a €50,000 win on a €20 All Cash Extravaganza Scratch Card which they purchased at Tesco on Chapel Street in Swinford.