A family in Kilkenny became instant millionaires in April when they won a Lotto jackpot prize of €12.7 million.
The family have now claimed their winnings, which was the 12th-largest Lotto jackpot since the game was introduced in 1988. They won €12,740,043 with a ticket purchased at the Circle K store on Waterford Road, Kilkenny city.
After claiming the prize this month, the family said it had been “a very strange but exciting couple of weeks”. They had wanted to take some time out to “get some proper financial advice” before claiming the prize.
“While we have in some way come to terms with the win, you can’t prepare yourself for the moment that you have a cheque for over €12 million in your hands. It’s literally a dream come true for all of us,” one of the family members said.
A potential mistake on their Lotto play slip delayed their celebrations for an hour on the night of the draw.
“I always play my lucky numbers on the Lotto play slip, but the previous Saturday night, I made a mistake on it and selected 29 instead of 37. On Wednesday, I watched the draw live and saw all of my numbers come out one after another,” the family member explained.
“I should have been jumping around with joy but instead this horrible feeling of dread had me wondering if I had used the same incorrect play slip to play again. It took me an hour to pluck up the coverage to even look at the ticket and once I confirmed the numbers for sure on RTÉ+1, it was officially celebration time,” he said.
Some of the family will be using their winnings to pay off mortgages, put deposits on houses, upgrade their cars or pay off some bills.
Winning was made “even more special” because they won as a family, he said. “Because there’s so many of us, none of us will be filthy rich, but it makes us all comfortable and we’ll be able to make some nice changes to our lives.”
