TONGUES were wagging in Waterford all day yesterday, as the city tried to identify its latest Lotto double millionaire. Bought in a Waterford newsagents at 7.04 p.m. on Wednesday, the £2.50 ticket has won its owner £2,603,830.
It is the second time in less than a year that a local has picked up a jackpot of more than £2 million. But Waterford millionaires know how to keep secrets.
Last December the winner of £2,153,651 was not identified until a month after the win, when a few pints loosened a brother's tongue in the pub.
Mr Michael McNena, a local publican, said at least 15 names were being discussed. He is engaged to the newsagent who sold the ticket, Ms Catherine Sealy. The £5,000 seller's prize will come in handy for the wedding.
The suspects are those people seen doing anything out of the ordinary in the city yesterday. "They're chaps who were in work today and left early", Mr McNena said. They include a publican, a county hurler, (or it could be a county hurler's cousin), a mechanic and a shop assistant.
Mr John Nolan, owner of Cleaboy Stores, was sure the winner was an individual, as "most syndicates spend around £20 to £30". They were queuing out the, door of the shop on Wednesday during the "panic hour" up to 8 p.m. he said. The rumour machine was "typical Waterford". One of the suspects was a woman living near the shop. "That came from a few women who came out of the hairdressers, but you know the way women talk in hairdressers", Mr Nolan said.
