For the second time in EuroMillions history Munster has found itself in possession of a record-breaking ticket, with a player in the province winning the €250 million jackpot following Tuesday night’s draw.
The latest winner follows in the footsteps of Dolores McNamara, who scooped a then record-breaking prize of €115 million after buying a quick pick on a whim in her home city of Limerick in the summer of 2005.
As of Wednesday evening there was no indication of what class of ticket won this time out, and Emma Monaghan of the National Lottery was remaining fiercely tight-lipped when grilled by The Irish Times.
She would not be drawn on the shop, town or even the county where the winning ticket was sold.
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She was, however, able to confirm that, as of the close of business on Wednesday, no one had come forward to claim the jackpot, which means the hunt to find the lucky ones is only likely to intensify.
[ Dolores McNamara: Whatever happened to the €115m lotto winner?Opens in new window ]
Ms Monaghan confirmed that a handful of people in the National Lottery HQ did know exactly when and where the ticket was sold. However, she stressed that releasing the information in a decidedly piecemeal fashion was not designed to tease the Irish public. Instead, she said, it was to give the winner or winners time to come to terms with how dramatically their world has changed and to allow them make some fundamental decisions about what they might do next.
By withholding some of the key details for a few days they will be able think about their radically altered future, free from the rumour machine that will inevitably crank up once the exact location where the winning ticket was sold is confirmed.
Not only will the winners need time to get their heads and affairs in order, so too will the National Lottery as it does not have the €250 million lying around in its HQ. It has already started the process of collecting tens of millions of euro from countries across Europe so that the 18th Irish winner of the EuroMillions jackpot can pick up their novelty cheque, most likely by the end of next week.
