JUST before lunch yesterday a man and his teenage daughter called into an office in Dublin, drank some champagne and walked away with a small cheque for a very large amount.
The winners of the largest Lotto jackpot yet picked up their £4,744,563 under the noses of a press pack camped outside the National Lottery office on Lower Abbey Street. The Hong Kong born man, living in Ireland for 26 years, chose to remain anonymous.
He is in his 40s, married to an Irish woman, and lives in Tallaght, Co Dublin. The couple have four children, a daughter in her 20s and three teenage sons.
They bought the £4 lotto ticket at a Crazy Prices kiosk in The Square in Tallaght on Wednesday evening during a shopping trip. "By the time we were leaving, the draw was over and we picked ups the results," the man told the Lottery officials.
It wasn't until they were sitting down to a meal at the Bewley's Hotel at Newland's Cross at about 8.30 p.m. that he checked the ticket.
Mr Ken O'Connell was in the middle of his shift as a waiter when he passed by the table where the man had just realised his luck. "He was very shook up. He said, check this for me, and I checked the numbers." The winning line was the last of the eight lines on the ticket. Another waitress also checked the numbers.
The family had just finished their first course. "One of the kids said they just couldn't eat and they left," Mr O'Connell said.
Ms Ann Tobin of Crazy Prices said that Wednesday night had been doubly crazy with late night shopping and the Lotto fever. The Lotto machines had been installed in the shop just a week ago.
The man works in a city centre restaurant, and was on his night off on Wednesday. "Dad just kept saying, `We've won.' I looked at him and I just knew by the look of shock on his face that he was serious," his daughter said, according to lottery officials.
"Dad then asked for the bill and we left £60 on the table and immediately left the restaurant. We discovered we were the only winner on the midnight radio news and could not believe it."
The restaurant now has a lucky table and a lucky seat, according to Mr Frank Down, restaurant manager. We're going to set up a syndicate and whoever's doing the numbers will sit in that seat." He said the waiting staff "tried to maintain a bit of decorum" after the family left for the benefit of its less lucky customers.
The family had not eaten or slept since they discovered the win, a spokeswoman for the Lotto said. They spent 25 minutes talking them through the Lottery's advice book for large winners. "Our first piece of advice is to get a good financial adviser."
They said he wanted to buy a bigger house. "I have members of my family living in England and Hong Kong and I intend to look after them. I spent most of this morning talking to my sister in Hong Kong and to be honest, I could not give a damn about the phone bill."
