Belfast couple to ‘do their bit’ with £13m EuroMillions win

A Northern Ireland couple who are the latest EuroMillions winners have pledged to spread their fortune across Belfast's sectarian divide.

Mary and Alexander Hamilton said they want to help Catholic and Protestant customers they have worked with in a furniture business for nearly a decade.

The pair won nearly £13 million in the EuroMillions draw two weeks ago.

Speaking at a press conference in the Culloden Hotel overlooking Belfast Lough, the Hamiltons said that while they are now quitting their jobs with local furniture suppliers Bannons, they plan to look after customers and workers they have come across in the business.

"We started working with Bannons about seven or eight years ago and they've been the happiest years of our working lives," Mary Hamilton (65) said.

“The owners and management have treated us very well, and we’ve also made a load of friends from customers on both sides of the community on our daily runs across Falls Road, the Shankill, New Lodge, North Queen Street, Rathcoole, Ballyduff, Monkstown and Newtownabbey.

“In fact, I always said to our customers that if I ever won the lottery, I would see them right. And I intend to keep my word and do just that,” she said.

“You could call it a thank you for keeping us in a job. I’d like to help both sides of the community, and also do my bit to help the local economy which has had it tough lately.”

Ms Hamilton revealed that last Friday she recently broke a habit of 20 years playing the lottery and opted for Lucky Dips rather her usual preferred numbers.

She said she checked her numbers last Friday evening for the previous week’s EuroMillions lottery at a local filling station on Belfast’s Shore Road. It was only then she discovered she was a multi-millionaire.

She said she had to call her 67-year-old husband from the filling station to come down and collect her.

“My legs were so weak that I couldn’t walk. Sandy came to the store, we hugged and then he drove us home,” Mary Hamilton said.

The couple’s EuroMillions numbers were 13, 25, 32, 38 and 46 with lucky stars 01 and 10.