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SURELY YOU’VE HEARD by now, but if you haven’t, Ireland has a new record lottery winner.
Last night’s Euromillions winner scooped over €175 million, comfortably the biggest ever win for an Irish player.
The winning ticket was sold in Reilly’s Daybreak in Naul, Co. Dublin.
Previously, the biggest ever win in the Republic was Dolores McNamara’s €115 million jackpot in 2005 while Northern Irish couple Patrick and Frances Connolly won €130 million on New Year’s Day this year.
But not only is this latest win the biggest ever for Ireland, it ranks as one of the biggest wins ever in the Euromillions.
In the 15-year history of the Euromillions, this jackpot is the ninth-highest of all time and the fifth-highest ever won by a single ticket.
The Euromillions jackpot is capped at €190 million and that figure has been won on three occasions, each time by a single ticket.
The first ever winners of that record jackpot were English couple Adrian and Gillian Bayford in 2012.
The next two jackpot winners remained anonymous but were from Portugal and Spain.
After that, the biggest win is the €185 million pocketed by Scottish couple Chris and Colin Weir in 2011.
Curiously though, the Weirs actually earned more than the Bayfords due to more favourable sterling exchange rates at the time.
After those four winners, last night’s winning ticket in Ireland ranks in fifth place in the overall list.
Of course, it’s yet to be revealed if the last night’s jackpot winner is a syndicate or single player, something that would of course make a big difference to their place among Ireland’s richest people.
If the ticket is in fact owned by a single winner, they would jump straight into the top 100 of Ireland’s rich list.
According to the Sunday Times’s Irish Rich list for 2018, winning €175 million would vault you straight up to 80th.
This places you above some very well-known millionaires, such as Paul McGuinness of U2 fame who fails to make the top 100 and places at 102nd with €143 million.
Golfer Rory McIlroy’s wealth is estimated at €125 million while Liam Neeson’s is placed at €113 million, putting last night’s winner well above those famous faces.
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But late to the party Journal.ie. read that story on Joe.ie 6 hours ago.
@Peter Cavey: joe.ie’s source for their story was probably a snapchat story from one of their intern’s old French pen-pals.
@Paddington C.: And even if so, it’s still faster reporting that thejournal
@Sean Murphy: yeah, well… “reporting”.
@Peter Cavey: Yep, same on BBC website. Wonder when we’ll read about the Italian budget row with Moscovici in the EU or the latest on the possibility of the digital tax collapsing due to countries planning to chase their own agenda.
@wattsed: you should ask for your money back.
@Paddington C.: They don’t do sterling, yet.
@wattsed: And yet, here you all are, whining as usual.
@Bridget O’Hanlon: I know, I need to simply stick to sites that provide journalism. My mistake.
@Paddington C.: One thing we can agree on is Joe.ie is muck, a stain on the underpants of news platforms everywhere.
And dont get me started on sports joe or her.ie
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