31 May 2020
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
The National Lottery has put Lotto players in Co. Cork on high alert as one lucky Lotto ticketholder is €250,000 better off this bank holiday Sunday morning after winning the top prize on last night’s Lotto Plus 2 draw.
The winning Lotto Plus 2 Quick Pick ticket was purchased at Ray’s Centra/Applegreen service station on the Limerick Road on the outskirts of Charleville town in Co. Cork.
The winning numbers from the Lotto Plus 2 draw were: 08, 25, 29, 34, 41, 42 and the bonus: 28.
Saturday night’s Lotto draws produced an incredible 103,000 prize winners including 103 winners of the bumper Lotto Plus Raffle prize who each collect €10,209, sharing an additional €1 million which was added to the draw to celebrate the bank holiday weekend. There was no winner of the €4.1 million Lotto jackpot which now rolls to an estimated €4.5 million on Wednesday.
Speaking on selling the winning ticket for last night’s Lotto Plus 2 win of €250,000, co-owner of Lee’s Centra/Applegreen service station, Ray Lee said:
“My brother, Brendan and I set up this store over 15 years ago and this is our first big Lotto win so we’re absolutely over the moon for one of our customers. I got the call from the National Lottery late last night so since then, the excitement has been building throughout Charleville town, knowing that one of the locals might be a quarter of a million richer! We are located on the Limerick Road going out of Charleville so even with Covid19 restrictions in place, we are still getting a lot of passing traffic with essential workers coming to and from their place of work, so there is a chance that it could be one of them. We’re asking everybody who may have bought a ticket in the store to carefully check their tickets because as the old line goes, it could be you,” he said.
With so many big winners in last night’s Lotto draw, the National Lottery has urged players throughout the country to check their tickets carefully. A National Lottery spokesperson said: “While one lucky player in Cork is €250,000 richer this morning, there are also 103 individual winners scattered throughout the country who have won €10,209 each. Each of these winners can collect their prize at their local An Post Prize Claim Centres, when safe to do so. If you are the lucky winner of the €250,000 Lotto Plus 2 top prize, please contact our prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and we will make arrangements for you to collect your prize once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.”
The National Lottery has also reminded players that it has extended the period of time that lucky winners can collect prizes to encourage people to stay at home and not require them to make any unnecessary journeys during the current public health emergency.
This means that any lucky winners of Lotto, EuroMillions, Telly Bingo and Daily Millions draws from 9th January 2020 until draws in the week 5th July 2020 will have an extra three months in which they can claim their prize. The prize claims extension applies to winners who purchased their tickets and scratch card games in-store, online at www.lottery.ie and via the National Lottery App.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language. In total more than €5.6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery as established 32 years ago. In 2019 alone, €250 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.
