A Cork Lotto syndicate finally collected their €8.3 million jackpot in Dublin on Monday after waiting a month before doing so.
The group won in the draw on Saturday, August 4th, with a Quick Pick ticket bought in Dunnes Stores in Bishopstown, Co Cork. They wish to remain private.
In a statement, they said they decided to take their time and get legal and financial advice before claiming their money.
“We met up straight away and decided to carefully take our time and get legal and financial advice to be properly prepared for when our share of the €8 million hit our bank accounts.
“We’re glad that we took the time to claim the prize because we’ve had four weeks to carefully consider how the money will help us way into the future.”
Spending plans varied from mortgages to holidays. “We’re obviously not going to lose the run of ourselves but I know those within the group with mortgages and loans will be paying those off first, while others are planning nice holidays and new cars. It’s all very exciting and new to us,” the group said in a statement.
At first many members did not believe that they had won.
“On the Sunday morning after the draw we all got the same message to say we had won the Lotto. The initial responses in the group were to ask, ‘Oh yeah – how much?’ We genuinely thought we had won a couple of euro each, and instead we had landed a jackpot worth over €8 million. We really didn’t believe any of it until we heard on the news that the winning ticket was sold in the locality, it was just so surreal,” said one of the syndicate members.
Price increase
The cost of playing the National Lottery rose this month for the second time since the franchise was privatised three years ago.
The price of a standard two-line ticket with the Lotto Plus option increased from €5 to €6. Meanwhile, the cost of the Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 draws rose from 50 cent to €1 per line.
More than 90 per cent of players opt to enter the two secondary draws when buying a ticket for the main weekly jackpots.
The changes are expected to generate significant extra revenue for the National Lottery's Canadian-owned operator, Premier Lotteries Ireland, which took over the business in 2015.