Anonymous EuroMillions winner picks up €94m cheque

The person who scooped a jackpot of almost €94 million in the EuroMillions lottery last week collected their prize today at the National Lottery offices - but is remaining anonymous.

The winner, who becomes the 96th richest person in Ireland, shared the total jackpot of more than €187 million from the draw last Tuesday with a player in Belgium.

This is the second largest jackpot win in the history of the National Lottery.

The winner was quoted as saying: “I’m absolutely thrilled. Dreams do come true. The news is still sinking in, so for the moment I’d like to keep the win private.

“I’m looking forward to thinking about all the opportunities that are now open to me. It’s a really exciting time.”

The jackpot had been rolling since June 7th last, and the National Lottery said it generated €4.9 million “for good causes in Ireland”.

It added it will release the name of the store in which the winning ticket was sold at a later date.

Since EuroMillions launched in 2004, there have been four jackpot wins in the Republic. “It seems summer is a good time to purchase a EuroMillions ticket, as all four wins took place in either June or July,” the lottery added.

Dolores McNamara holds the record for the largest ever win, which came in at over €115 million in 2005. In July 2008, a €15 million winning ticket was sold in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, while a €29.4 million jackpot-winning ticket was sold in Dublin in June 2009.

EuroMillions is played in nine countries – Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.