Syndicate wins Mayo €29m lotto jackpot

AN anonymous syndicate won last Friday's night's huge €29 million Euromillions Jackpot.

They collected their massive cheque at National Lottery Headquarters in Dublin this evening (Friday).

A Lottery spokesperson said the group is determined to remain anonymous.

The winning Quickpick was purchased at the Garryduff XL Store in Garryduff, Castlebar, on Friday last.

There has been huge speculation and excitement in the Mayo capital since the name of the winning ticket seller was announced midweek.

For days shop owner Umesh Kumar and his wife, Rozalia, have been showered with good wishes and congratulations.

But nobody, except the syndicate themselves, have any idea about who the

mega-winners are.

The National Lottery themselves are remaining absolutely tight-lipped about the winners.

“All we can say that it is a syndicate from the west of Ireland,†a spokesperson explained.

Early speculation suggested the winner was probably local to Castlebar as most of the shop's customers live within a mile radius.

But details released this evening by the Lotto does not demolish that theory

A spokesperson for the group in Dublin this evening said the win “has come as a huge shock and they are all delighted. This will certainly make life easier for us all and will secure our futures.â€

The group realised their win last Saturday when one of the syndicate members checked the EuroMillions numbers. The other syndicate members were then informed.

“It has been a roller coaster week with lots of butterflies in our stomachs and lots of different emotions. But we are keeping level heads and we will try to take it all in and we will give it time before we decide what to do with our winnings.â€

Incredibly this was the second EuroMillions Jackpot win for Castlebar, and the 11th EuroMillions Jackpot win in Ireland since it began in 2004. And it brings to over €1 billion the total Irish EuroMillions winnings to date.

In April 2014 a jackpot prize worth a massive €15 million was claimed on a ticket sold in Staunton's Costcutter Express in Castlebar. On that occasion the winner also did not go public.

National Lottery Chief Executive, Dermot Griffin, said today he was delighted to hand over the winning cheque to the syndicate.

“We always love seeing happy winners come into our winner's room here in National Lottery headquarters. It is important these winners take the time and space to let the news sink in. This is an incredible amount of money to win, and we have recommended that the winners get independent financial and legal advice.â€

Mr. Griffin said there it is definitely a case of the “luck of the Irish†when it comes to EuroMillions, 

“Not only do we now have our 11th EuroMillions Jackpot winner but we have had 14 winners of EuroMillions Plus top prize of €500,000 so far this year. And this week we had a winner of the EuroMillions Match 5 Plus lucky star prize worth €369,210. Every week in Ireland we have around 100,000 players who win a cash prize on EuroMillions.â€

The National Lottery was established 30 years ago to support Good Causes all over Ireland.  One third of all National Lottery sales, including EuroMillions, go back to Good Causes, and this EuroMillions roll alone has raised a significant amount of money for organisations and individuals in the areas of health, sport, youth, education, arts and heritage. The total amount raised in the last 30 years in good causes now stands at €4.9 billion.

Amongst the organisations in Mayo that have benefitted from the Good Causes Fund is the North West Therapy Centre, which offers support and respite for MS patients in Mayo and the west.

The most recent Irish EuroMillions Jackpot winner was a Dublin work syndicate who shared a gigantic €88.5 million jackpot in January 2017.