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08th Jan 2018

Small family syndicate in Dublin claim “life-changing” €38.9 million Euromillions jackpot

Conor Heneghan

Euromillions

“We have no plans to move to the moon!”

Ireland’s latest Euromillions winners finally collected their prize on Monday as a small family syndicate from Dublin picked up a cheque for €38.9 million at National Lottery HQ.

The family claimed the prize in what was the last Euromillions draw of 2017, having picked up a quick picket ticket in The Village Shop in Malahide on the day of the draw, Friday 29 December.

A spokesperson for the family syndicate, who wish to keep their win private, said: “This is life-changing. It is amazing to think that we and our family members are now secure for the rest of our lives. But we won’t go crazy. We have no plans to move to the moon!”

“I play Euromillions regularly and I checked my ticket as normal in a shop the morning after the draw,” the spokesperson added.

“A message came up to contact the National Lottery. I knew then we had won. I was dizzy.”

The family member responsible for buying the ticket went home and shared the news with family members on a day that they’ll never forget,

“We stayed in all day. There were lots of emotions,” he said.

“We kept looking at each other laughing and crying. You always hope that someday you would win a jackpot, but never really believe it will happen. For us our dreams have come true. We had a friend staying and we broke the news to him on Sunday. He said he could not believe he was sleeping under the same roof as people who had won almost €39 million!”

“We watched the TV coverage from the winning shop in Malahide on Thursday and some of the media videos taken in the shop. And we kept saying: “This is us!”

As for what they plan to do with the money, they’re in no rush to decide on anything for the time being, apart from a sun holiday in the summer.

“We haven’t had much sleep in the last week. We will take our time before we make any big changes,” he added.

“We would like to start our own business and maybe look at buying a new house later this year. We will take a sun holiday in May or June, possibly the Bahamas or the Maldives we will see.

“What is great is that we can look after family and help make their lives easier also. That will give us great pleasure.”

We’re not jealous, we’re not jealous at all…

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