SPECULATION ABOUT the identity of Ireland’s latest Lotto multimillionaire was rife in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, yesterday.
The winning €8.6 million multi-draw quick-pick ticket was bought in Moran’s newsagents on Main Street, Abbeyleix, last Friday.
Moran’s yellow facade was adorned with bunting and balloons yesterday, as shoppers pondered who might have hit the jackpot.
The win has brought “great excitement” to Abbeyleix, said Rebecca Moran, whose parents, Annette and Loughlin, own the newsagents. “It’s a lot busier than a Thursday would be. It definitely creates a buzz anyway,” added Ms Moran.
Although she may have sold the winning ticket, Ms Moran can’t recall who bought it. “It’s kind of hard to tell because we do have some passersby,” she explained.
Aisling Fitzgerald, who works at Ego Boost hair salon, near Moran’s, wished the winner well. “I hope it’s someone local,” she said. “I hope it is someone we all know.” As Ms Fitzgerald and her co-workers have a weekly syndicate, “there was a lot of excitement. There was a few phone calls made to us to see if we had won it,” she said, adding, “it’s definitely not us anyway”.
She believes such a large win could hold its own perils. “I think it might send someone mad,” she said. “I’m sure there is lots you can do with it but it depends on who it goes to.”
Paddy Dowling was also hoping for a local winner. “If it’s someone local it will be great excitement. It’s hard to believe someone could win that sort of money. It will either make or break them,” he said.
Local councillor John Joe Fennelly believes the winner may be an infrequent visitor to the town because the ticket was a multi-draw.
“I do my Lotto in there every week but it wasn’t me anyway,” he admitted. “I’d say it’s somebody from a couple of miles away.
“There’s four or five names being bandied about. There’s loads of rumours going around so you wouldn’t know what to believe. I hope it was a local,” he added.