Irish Lotto winner spent the night with one unexpected item by her side

Three recent National Lottery winners in Ireland shared what happened after discovering their prizes.

A recent National Lottery winner was so stunned after discovering she’d scooped €50,000 that she ended up spending the night with something rather unusual by her side.

The Dublin woman struck gold during a coffee break when she scratched a Congratulations Scratch Card and realised she had landed the top prize.

The golden ticket was bought in Dunnes Stores in the Donaghmede Shopping Centre in Dublin 13.

While many winners might have rushed out to celebrate, she admitted the shock of the win left her feeling both excited and nervous.

She said: “I was sitting down with my coffee, scratching the card, and I just went quiet. I couldn’t believe it. I was shaking.”

After carrying the winning ticket around with her for the rest of the day, she took an extra precaution when bedtime came around.

The winner added: “I was nervous but excited, I even brought it up to bed with me that night!”

Celebrations have already begun with family gatherings, and the winner has her eye on both travel and home improvements. She said: “I’ll definitely be looking at a holiday and I’ve my eye on a new kitchen too.”

The woman is one of three recent National Lottery winners celebrating life changing prizes.

A syndicate of four from Galway explained how they stopped off at Applegreen on the Tuam Road for fuel and a Lotto ticket on Wednesday, April 22 – and ended up winning €250,000 in the process.

The group said their first priority is booking a well earned sun holiday abroad.

Meanwhile, a woman from Louth is still coming to terms with her €35,005 TellyBingo Snowball win. The player who bought her ticket at Londis in Yellowbatter, Drogheda, had been watching the TellyBingo show on catch up later that evening.

She said: “I was oblivious. I only realised when I had three numbers left, then suddenly it was down to just one. I still didn’t think it was me. I had to wait until they called out the shop before I was sure.”

Her partner, who jokingly calls her ‘Bingo Betty’ since the win, initially wasn’t convinced either. She laughed: “I ran up to tell him, I was so excited, but he told me to get lost, thinking I was winding him up!

“We haven’t done much yet, but there are some big milestones coming up this year we’ll celebrate. For now, we’re heading for a nice lunch, enjoying the sunshine, and I think we’ll be booking a holiday sooner than planned!”

This comes as the National Lottery has confirmed Ireland will have a guaranteed millionaire this weekend.

The Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 60 and 120 winners of €500 in every draw but for this Saturday’s event, the National Lottery is adding a guaranteed to be won €1 million to the prize fund.

Each of the tickets with the winning Lotto Plus Raffle number drawn in Saturday night’s draw will be entered into a once off draw, where one ticket will be selected to win an additional prize of €1 million, as well as the usual €500 Raffle prize.

Players dreaming of bank holiday weekend celebrations after the draw are bring reminded that tickets can be purchased in store, through the National Lottery app or at www.lottery.ie ahead of the 7.45pm cut-off time for sales on Saturday evening.

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